R
Richard Ogunsile
Guest
Former Governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa, has received an endorsement to become the next leader of Arewa.
The Nigerian Youth Organizations for Peace and Stability group argued that Bafarawa possesses the insight and understanding needed to bring peace back to the troubled North.
In an interview with Vanguard, following their gathering in Kaduna over the weekend, the Executive Secretary General of the Coalition, Dr. Suleiman Shuaibu Shinkafi, mentioned that those advocating for fresh leadership in the North were members of their organization, which is a federation of youth groups with representatives from various sectors.
“There was the last Arewa Consultative Forum meeting, and we are not satisfied with what they said so far. If you listened to the former Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa on RFI Radio, he said a lot , that Arewa lacks leadership but we have a leader,” he said.
Shinkafi further noted that “Our nomination, our respect and loyalty, the whole youths in Nigeria, not even in Arewa, our loyalty goes direct to Alhaji Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa. We had a meeting in Arewa House; we did not only call Northerners, but we also had representatives from other states, mostly the 19 Northern states. Our loyalty and respect go to Bafarawa because we believe he is a leader, a respectable elder statesman who can be relied upon with confidence. We know he has Arewa and Nigeria in his heart; he is not happy about what is happening to the North, and we have to back him.
“We nominated him as the respectable leader who we would follow and listen to in the North. Whatever we are doing, Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa should feel free to come out and ask us to stop; we would stop. Apart from him, nobody will come and raise any finger on us because they are not with us. They only know their children and their families. Whatever happens to the youth in the North, they don’t care. If they see the North catching fire, they will run to other countries to hide.
“But Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa is the only person who bluntly came out to protect the integrity of Arewa, the Northern states and the people of Arewa. He has them at heart. If you look at their tenure, Bafarawa of Sokoto, Adamu Mu’azu of Bauchi, Donald Duke of Cross Rivers, Danjuma Goje of Gombe, Makarfi of Kaduna, name them. They worked very tirelessly and elevated their states. This pedigree is still following them.
“But now the Bafarawa pedigree is to the extent we can no longer close our eyes and say there is no elder statesman in the North capable of providing the needed leadership. Bafarawa is there; we nominated him and endorsed him to be the most important, diligent and respectable elder statesman.
“About 22 years ago, Bafarawa wrote a book on the way forward. If things happen, people should come and join hands to stop it; otherwise, we will reach a time when criminals will visit all of us in our houses. A criminal would knock on your door and kill you, and it is happening now. They didn’t do anything about it.”
Shinkafi added: “When he was in ACF, there was a conference in Kaduna where he mentioned it and wrote this book, which he published. He documented it, and I have the book. Whatever Bafarawa mentioned 22 years ago, it’s happening now. It’s very sad because they did not care to take the measures to stop it and it’s happening now. He foresaw it right from that time.”
“Bafarawa is a man who will use his resources to accommodate. I was the DG of the Attahiru Bafarawa Foundation, I know what he has spent on refugees IDPs.He was always spending a lot of money. He built schools; there were so many things he did that people may not know. But I knew. That’s why in this conference, I told people Bafarawa is our nominee, and they all accepted it. Can you imagine even the Igbo people who were with us accepting Bafarawa? The Ijaw and Yoruba accepted him.”
“He is not vying for anything, Governor, Minister, President or anything. Even if President Tinubu we calls him for a ministerial appointment, I believe Bafarawa will not take it because he is not for that. His own is to see how they are going to stop these killings and how Arewa is going to be settled. How peace would be restored in the North, that’s his problem.
“So we’ve today, unanimously endorsed Bafarawa to be an elder statesman as he is and a leader who we in the North and in Nigeria respect and someone that even if we do something,he is the only person that can tell us No, don’t do it. We would listen to him. That’s why we had this conference today.”
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