John Adams Minna and Fred Itua, Abuja
Barely few days after Northern Elders Forum (NEF) joined their counterparts from other regions of the country to endorsed the People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, for the 2019 election, a group, Northern Youths Stakeholders Forum, has joined the elders in endorsing the PDP presidential candidate.
The northern youths stakeholders forum, who gathered in Minna, the Niger state capital, yesterday, for its A-Zonal town hall meeting, said they decided to queue behind the northern elders to endorse Atiku because President Mohammadu Buhari did not only lack the mental capacity to lead the country, but has failed in all ramifications.
The youths from all the 19 states of the north, in a communique at the end of its one day town hall meeting, which was read by the Chairman of the forum, Alhaji Ismaila Musa, said after four years of sacrifice made by Nigerians, especially the north, to put the current All Progressives Congress (APC) administration of president Buhari in power, the country has not seen any meaningful change, and the north appeared to be the worst.
The group said: “The north and the rest of Nigerian’s votes were mobilised to trust Buhari to lead the country out its limitations, into a future in which we would live secured lives and pursue livelihoods in a United Nigeria, whose resources would be protected by leaders.
“Instead of the expected equitable and justiciable treatment from a man we trusted and had high hope in his ability to stand up to his ward, what we have after four years is a disappointing regime of broken promises, unprecedented preferential treatment in distribution of resources and appointments.
While listing the many failures of the Buhari administration, the forum pointed out that “apart from Boko Haram insurgency that is yet far from being tamed, the north has, in the last three years, come under a fresh treat of kidnapping for ransom, ferocious banditry and escalating violent communal conflicts.
“Buhari has fallen far below the expectations of Nigerians and, in particular, the northern region. In the last four years Buhari has regrettably stripped himself of the goodwill of the North and, indeed, the whole country.
“In view of the gross incompetence, lack of capacity and diminishing ability, we have, categorically, resolved to pass a vote of no confidence in Buhari and his APC government,” the group said..
Meanwhile, members of Atiku’s campaign organisation have commenced a nationwide door-to-door campaign.
The campaign’s committee on contacts and mobilisation, while briefing newsmen, urged supporters to ensure Atiku emerges as president in this month’s election.
Special Assistant on Youths and Support Groups to Atiku, Aliyu Bin Abbas, urged members of the committee to be unwavering in their assigned responsibilities.
He said: “The committee, as the engine room of Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation, should gear up on its assigned duties on contacts and mobilisation, and leave no stone unturned as the election draw nearer.”