The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, has criticised President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman, Femi Adesina over his comment against the Northern Elders’ Forum.
AYCF called on Adesina to stop what it termed insults and unguarded words against NEF’s convener, Prof. Ango Abdullahi.
Recall that Abdullahi had accused Buhari of failing in his responsibility of protecting people of the North, following several attacks by bandits and insurgents.
The NEF convener had cried out that the North was at the mercy of criminals who are constantly terrorizing them.
Responding, Adesina described NEF as mere irritant and featherweight.
The presidential spokesman said NEF lacked good leaders
However, AYCF berated Adesina for attacking NEF’s leadership, stressing that Buhari’s spokesman has no respect for elders.
A statement signed by AYCF President-General, Yerima Shettima called on Adesina to apologise for his comments against Abdullahi.
AYCF wondered why Adesina should attack Abdullahi and NEF for telling the government the truth regarding the killings in the North.
The youths warned that such attacks against its leaders won’t be condoned from Adesina.
The statement reads: “That Femi Adesina has insulted the North and we take exception to his choice of words, which we believe he would never use against elders from Yoruba land for whatever reason. We demand the withdrawal of the abusive language he deployed against Professor Ango Abdullahi and other respected elders in NEF.
“We cannot fathom why telling truth to power over the increasing killings in the North by Prof Ango warrants the use of derogatory language against our elders by Femi Adesina
“We find it even scandalous that a Presidential Spokesman lacks the right choice of words to use in dodging the reality of today’s Nigeria, in which the North is worse off.
“We would like to make it abundantly clear that we will not condone the deployment of foul language against our elders any more. This is not the first time Mr. Adesina would be spewing foul language against elders of our region but we hope it will be the last.
“While we stress that we would not take this kind of infantile attack on our elders, we wish to call in all Northerners of good conscience to ignore Adesina’s unguarded outburst against Prof Ango and NEF. Enough of this nonsense please.”
In recent time, banditry, insurgents have been attacking communities, killing people in Northern states like Kaduna, Katsina, Borno, Taraba, and Sokoto States.
