- Leader ofSource rewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) faults comments by chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, Paul Unongo, over the purported endorsement of President Buhari for 2019 presidency
- AYCF leader, Alhaji Shettima Yerima, maintains that the presidency remains in the northern region till 2023 and it is up to it to present one of its own to fill the slot
The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) has dismissed statement from chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, Paul Unongo, suggesting that the northern region had endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari as sole candidate for the 2019 presidency.
Alhaji Shettima Yerima, leader of the (AYCF), in a statement sent to NAIJ.com on Sunday, December 3, said Paul Unongo was speaking for himself as usual and neither for the Northern Elders Forum, nor for the whole north.
The AYCF leader said Unongo lacks the requisite authority to speak for the North on any matter as his antecedents are full of inconsistency and lack decorum.
"It is quite unthinkable that a person with such little grasp of diplomacy should think himself as a worthy successor to the respectable chairmanship of the NEF vacated by the late Danmasanin Kano.
"We all know that Danmasani was the convener of the NEF and a noble leader that never steered the group in the path of partisanship.
The leadership of the NEF in the time of the Danmasani has never been so biased and considered every northerners as its own and treated them equally," Shettima stated.
The AYCF leader however maintained that the presidency remains in the northern region till 2023 and it is up to it to present one of its own to fill the slot.
"Unongo therefore must have said the things he said out of turn," he said.
Meanwhile, the announcement of a return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by the former vice president Atiku Abubakar after many years of sojourn in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has been received by Nigerians with mixed feelings.
While the PDP and its supporters are delighted at the announcement, a number of Nigerians are trying to understand what the move means for Nigeria and the 2019 presidential elections. On its part, the PDP tweeted in excitement after the announcement:
Ben Murray-Bruce, a PDP senator representing Bayelsa central, already believes that Atiku will be Nigeria's next leader come 2019.
However, some people mocked Atiku, noting that his actions were nothing new to Nigeria's political terrain.
Are Nigerians truly tired of President Buhari? on NAIJ.com TV
Source:Naija.ng