North May Withhold Power From Yoruba In 2023 – Arewa Youths

The Arewa Youths Consultative Forum (AYCF) has threatened to ensure the North does not hand over power to the Southwest after the expiration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term in 2023.

This, the group claimed, was due the harassment of northerners in Lagos state by officials of the Lagos State Task Force.

Speaking in a statement on Monday by its National President, Yerima Shetima, the group frowned at the alleged clamp down on some commercial motorcyclists in the Oshodi area of the state by the taskforce.

The motorcyclists were said to have attacked officials of the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit, prompting the task force team to clampdown on them.

Reacting, the AYCF said: “Our attention has been drawn to an ongoing brigandage in Lagos against innocent Northerners who are in Lagos to earn their living legitimately. We reliably gathered that using a Gestapo style, the Lagos task force officials have been invading homes of Northerners in Lagos in ungodly hours of the night and carting away motorcycles while forcefully abducting the occupants and hauling them into detention.

“We dare say we have not seen this kind of impunity against Northerners in recent years.

“It is even strange that this is coming from the Southwest, a region that expects the North to hand over the 2023 presidency to its own.

“We have reason to now wonder if the Southwest truly expects the North to make it a successor in 2023.”

“We find totally unacceptable the use of force to invade the homes of Northerners in the wee hours of the night and ‘arresting’ them for no legal or constitutional reason.

“We are not aware of any law by Lagos State Government banning Okada, even though we know that restrictions have been imposed on Okada in selected Lagos communities.

“It is, therefore, imperative that the either the Lagos State Government or the Task Force explain the legal and Constitutional basis for this action.

“It was very touching when we saw the Task Force officials raiding homes with majority of Northerners in Oshodi area on the wee hours of the night.

“We demand immediate explanation for this humiliating operation, let either the Lagos State Government tell the world that it officially sanctioned this Gestapo operation or it was the instruction of Task Force boss that we are seeing this physical assault on our people.

“We are deeply disturbed by this rather uncivilized conduct in the 21st century, happening in a supposedly cosmopolitan city like Lagos.

“We gathered that the people in many Northern States are already tensed up by the news filtering out of Lagos since Thursday through Saturday.

“And we dare say this kind of tension in the North has very often been a precursor to revenge attacks. Something drastic must be done to avoid a recurrence of past security challenges caused by the humiliation of Northerners in Lagos.”