The convener of Arewa Think Tank Mohammed Alhaji Yakubu has told politicians and some religious leaders to safe Nigeria’ additional worries and not overheat the polity.
Yakubu made the call in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, saying as a country’s and people, considering the current situation, we do not to have the nation plunged into an unmitigated crisis.
He said God, through the 2033 general elections have Nigeria’s leadership to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to become President, adding that with the courts affirming the election, it would amount to challenging God if some groups of people trying to undermine the country under Tinubu’s leadership.
The chieftain of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) said based on this, “it is incumbent upon Nigerians to rally support for the President and not run the country down by heating the polity.
“Nothing wrong with criticizing President Tinubu where he missed out on certain policies, he is human and susceptible to errors. However, such should not be used to further make the country ungovernable. Criticisms should not just br constructive but issues-based and provide superior solutions.”
Tinubu is working hard to finding a lasting solution to the hardship the country was experiencing, Yakubu noted.
Yakubu who is former leader of the pan-northern socio-political organisation, the Arewa Consultative Forum, advised politicians not to hide behind the prevailing socio-economic crisis which has inflicted hardship on Nigerians to cause more confusion in the country.
According to the leader the ‘Arewa Think Tank made up of prominent northern leaders, some clerics have been “prophesying doom for Nigeria” over the current economic hardship.
He said this was not the right way to go, adding that they should rather moderate their actions, adding ‘the country had passed through a similar situation in the past yet came out stronger.
“Though the economy is actually bitting so hard, but, it is not as serious as it was experienced by the people during the Second Republic.”
However, he noted there was hope in the horizon and urged all and sundry to persevere, unite, and ensure that Nigeria got out of the current situation.
“This issue of hunger in this country has been over dramatised, with due respect to some few genuine Nigerians who really need support. Why I am saying this is because if you look at the history of Nigeria since Independence, there is no regime that hunger, poverty have not been over dramatised in Nigeria.
“A case study is the Second Republic. It was so over dramatised that it got the then Minister of Transportation, late Umar Dikko so angry that he had to ask a question at that time as the whole thing was over dramatised by the opposition and some Nigerians and the press.
“He now angrily asked to know if Nigerians were eating from the dustbins at that time?
“So I don’t want us to over dramatise this and fall into the traps of those who don’t want the administration of President Bola Tinubu to succeed. That is why I am saying this. We should be cautious because all over the world, there are economic challenges. So we shouldn’t over dramatise our own.”
Continuing, he maintained, “I am not defending the government. I know that there are real issues, but let’s look at the genuine ones. We shouldn’t allow disgruntled politicians and elements in collaboration with foreigners to distabilise our country.
“And I am even making this case, using the Second Republic as an example, that is as at the time Umar Dikko of blessed memory made that statement, the Naira was at par with the Dollar. So can you imagine that the Naira was at par with the Dollar. So let’s see how we can give the Tinubu-led government some breathing space and some time before we start coming down heavy on the government.
“This is also the time we are calling on our patriotic leaders across the divide, all over the country to come up and speak to douse the tension and not allow us to be entrapped or fall into the traps of those that don’t wish this country well.
“We need to have a country before anybody can think of aspiring to become a leader. We are not supporting Tinubu, but he needs our support for the country to survive.
“We strongly feel that it is the responsibility of patriotic leaders and elders of this country to now speak out because if they keep quiet, and the country is allowed to be set on fire by those who don’t wish us well, including their collaborators from outside the country, it will all come back to harm all of us.
“So, we urge them to speak out. These are issues that we can all sit round the table and resolve. If we put on our thinking caps and we are patriotic enough and without greed, sentiments, tribalism, religion, and so on, we can solve our challenges.
“Finally, we at the Arewa Think Tank want to appeal to good Nigerians, majority of patriotic Nigerians not to allow the few disgruntled elements to make it a North and South issue because it is not. Hunger does not know South, and neither does it know any region.”