Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, has declared
that nobody in the North can intimidate him.
He declared that “it is fire for fire”.
This is contained in a statement made available to DAILY
POST Friday night by his media adviser, Jude Ndukwe.
Ndukwe said his principal read a
press statement by some “self-styled Arewa Youth Forum in Abuja under the
leadership of one Gambo Gujungu wherein they accused the Ekiti State governor,
Dr Ayodele Peter Fayose and former minister of aviation, Chief Femi
Fani-Kayode, of being used by southwest leaders to destabilize the country and
pitching the rest of the country against President Muhammadu Buhari and the north”.
“While we normally do not respond to the antics of juvenile
delinquents exhibiting a regrettably deep sense of flippancy and non-challance
in a desperate attempt to warm themselves into public spotlight, we find it
highly imperative to put the record straight this time round because we know
that the macabre dance of these misguided youths is a response to the drumbeat
of their elders hiding in the bush.
“First, let it be clearly told that Gujungu cannot claim to
be ‘the National President of AYF the umbrella body of all youths in the north’
as he brazenly put it in that statement as a good number of reasonable
northerners, including the youth, have since realized the evil antics of such
contraption which is only used for electoral purposes after which people of the
middle belt, northern Christians and other minorities are treated like scum by
the same Arewa that is quick to mouth a non-existent ‘One North’ during
elections or as elections approach.
“One wonders where these youths who claim to be speaking for
the entire north were when Buhari whom they profess so much love for today
watched while his army killed about a thousand innocent, harmless, armless,
helpless and hapless Shiites, many of them youths, in December of 2015?
“Where has Gujungu and his co-travellers been while their
cousins, the Fulani herdsmen terrorists, have been moving through the length
and breadth of Benue, Plateau, Niger, Adamawa, Taraba, Kogi etc leaving in
their trails tears, sorrow and blood of farmers whose only offence has always
been asking the marauding herdsmen not to destroy their farms, their only
sources of livelihood, with their cattle?
“Or are these innocent victims from these states not also
part of Arewa?
We did not even hear anything from these emergency Arewa activists when the
same Fulani herdsmen terrorists killed more than a thousand people over a
stretch of time in Southern Kaduna. Or are Southern Kaduna people not supposed
to be part of this expired contraption called Arewa? Or are they simply ignored
because they are Christians and belong to the minorities in that part of the
country?
“The fact is that the Arewa Empire has since collapsed.
Buhari’s ascendancy to power ensured its final cremation. If these same Arewa
Youths and their elders would see nothing against the evils being perpetrated
against the many innocents not only in the north but in all parts of the
country under the watch of Buhari, good men like Fayose and Fani-Kayode wil not
keep quiet because if they do they would ultimately share in the consequences
that befall evil people.
“The path this duo walks is not one they chose for themselves,
it is one which destiny has bestowed on them. To shy away from such a noble but
tough and unenviable task divinely placed on their shoulders is to offend God.
And who would want to do that? Despite the toughness and risks of confronting
Pharaoh, Moses still had to go deliver his divine mandate to the wicked king.
“Let it be stated that Fayose and Fani-Kayode’s criticism of
Buhari has nothing to do with where he comes from. If it does, then this duo
would not be defending the Shiites, people of Southern Kaduna or victims of
Fulani herdsmen terrorists who all come from the same north as Buhari.
Nigerians will also remember very well that Fayose is one of Obasanjo’s ardent
critics. Is Obasanjo also from the north?
“Their criticism of Buhari is because the president has
proved, with his words and actions, that he has the qualities of tyrannical
Pinochet, despotic Stalin and totalitarian Sese Seko all rolled into one. If
there is anyone who has pitched almost the entire country against the
president, it is Buhari himself!
“And if there is anyone peddling lies and falsehood to
gullible Nigerians, even kindergartens will jubilantly tell you that it is the
APC and their officials.
Rather than focus on Fayose and Fani-Kayode, the so-called Arewa youths will do
well to help the president by telling him to be more humane in dealing with
citizens according to the laws of the land he swore to uphold.
“Those who are egging the president on despite his obvious
critical ill health are those who actually hate him. Isn’t it amusing that
these youths from the north claim to have gone to see the president, yet, top
government officials within the ruling party do not even have an inkling of how
bad the president’s case is? This goes a long way to confirm that this
president is a president of only a section of this country!
“Fortunately, Fayose and Fani-Kayode will not keep quiet.
Nobody can silence them. We all own this country together. These two highly
placed men of the country are too big for anyone or any group to use to achieve
an agenda. They have minds of their own and until there is absence of official
tyranny and gross abuse of presidential powers, they will continue to speak no
matter whose ox is gored!”
By Wale Odunsi
