It has been suggested that in the interests of fairness and equity, the Presidency of Nigeria should be awarded to someone from the Southeast in 2023. The leadership of Arewa Concerned Civil Society Organizations of Nigeria (ACCSON) has stated that the current administration has turned the region into a human abbattoir.
This was in response to a statement supposedly issued by one Alhaji Yerima Shettima, President of the Arewa Consultative Youth Forum, in which he stated that "it is too late for the 2023 Presidency to be zoned to the southeast." The ACCSON expressed displeasure with this declaration.
An Arewa Concerned Civil Society Organizations of Nigeria press release signed by Comrade Abdulsalam Mohammed Kazeem, Spokesperson for the organisation, stated as follows: (ACCSON).
ACCSON, an umbrella organisation of over 40 civil society organisations, youth, students, and women's organisations in the North, described the statement as "reckless," "devoid of empathy," and "fair."
"It is impolite, if not openly confrontational and inflammatory in its nature. " In this critical political period in our country, we are confident that no real democrat with genuine national interest, who values the spirit of unity and corporate existence of Nigeria, will make such insensitive remarks.
In the interest of political equity and fairness, we would like to state unequivocally that the above-mentioned statement by Alhaji Yerima Shettima does not, in any way, represent the recent position of our umbrella youth coalition, the Arewa Concerned Civil Society Organizations of Nigeria (ACCSON), that the presidency of Nigeria in 2023 should specifically zoned to the South East geo-political zone.
"We made this public proclamation recently at the inauguration of our group at the Arewa House in Kaduna," said the group's leader. We want Nigerians and the media to regard Shettima's statement as a personal perspective of Yerima Shettima, a former young activist from our northern region, rather than as an outright condemnation by our group, ACCSON.
"The following are the grounds on which we base our view on the aforementioned statement attributed to Shettima:
That according to the Nigerian National Youth Policy (2009), a youth is defined as a person between the ages of 15 and 35.
According to the African Youngster Charter, a youth is defined as someone who is between the ages of 15 and 35 years old.
In contrast, the United Nations defines such a person as being between the ages of 15 and 24.
In light of the foregoing, Alhaji Yerima Shettima is not a youth and hence cannot be categorised as one." He is much past the age of 35, and as a result, his comments should be regarded as personal rather than representative of the Arewa Youths."
Our group, the Arewa Concerned Civil Society Organizations of Nigeria (ACCSON), took the position of pushing for a rotational presidency among Nigeria's six geopolitical zones as a result of our unique regional experiences, and we would want to reiterate that position here: Neither the previous nor the current generation of elected and appointed officials from within our region has done us any favours whatsoever.
They have failed to live up to the aspirations of our people, and they have continued to undermine our faith in them, our confidence in them, and our regard for them."
"For example, the North West and North East Zones have produced presidents, vice presidents, Secretaries to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senate Presidents, and Speakers of the House of Representatives from 1999 to the present (which is 22 years today). A total of two Senate Presidents, one Deputy Senate President, and one Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives have come from the North Central Zone alone over a period of 12 years. "Our three zones of the northern region have produced more Ministers, Services Chiefs, and Heads of Government Agencies than any other region in the world, but there is nothing tangible to show for it on the ground." "Our three zones of the northern region have produced more Ministers, Services Chiefs, and Heads of Government Agencies than any other region in the world."
"They only use our population advantage to their benefit, which is a significant advantage in a democratic system," says the author. Only during the electioneering season is the aforementioned demographic of benefit to our region. The most significant advantage of a population advantage in economics is that it continues to be appealing to both multinational and transnational corporations, which would want to locate enterprises in such locations in order to maximise their market while also obtaining extremely low-wage labour."
"Our northern region today has been reduced to a human abattoir, to put it mildly, where all of our communities have been turned into a mass cemetery as a result of the failure of government at all levels," says the author of the book. Over 150 persons of northern extraction have been slain by terrorists in Sokoto state alone since October 2021, not to mention Zamfara and Kebbi states, Kaduna, Katsina, the Niger, Benue and Borno states, and Yobe and Borno states. Despite the government's assurances that terrorism and violent insurgency are being forcefully combated, the northern region has remained a "killing field."
"Despite the fact that our country is the third-largest importer of arms and ammunition in Africa, and that our region is perhaps the poverty capital of Nigeria, our people have occupied and continue to occupy the most sensitive posts in government since 1999."
In addition to being loyal northerners who have a history of respect for constituted authority and for our elders, we are not government sycophants.
As a result, our northern umbrella youths coalition, the Arewa Concerned Civil Society Organizations of Nigeria (ACCSON), believes that since our people in leadership positions in Nigeria have failed to bring development, peace, progress, and prosperity to our region, we should try people from other regions, particularly from regions or geo-political zones that have not produced a President or Vice President of Nigeria, in order to further promote fairness, equity, unity or on the other hand, to promote development, peace, progress and prosperity in "Nigeria is still alive!"