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2019 presidency and sour tales from North

By Saxone Akhaine, Kaduna
23 September 2018   |   3:19 am
As 2019 elections draw closer, the north appears sharply divided on whether President Muhammadu Buhari, who is poised to fly the flag of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), should be given the opportunity of a second term come 2019 as a result of his performance....

Mallam Danjuma Sarki

As 2019 elections draw closer, the north appears sharply divided on whether President Muhammadu Buhari, who is poised to fly the flag of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), should be given the opportunity of a second term come 2019 as a result of his performance, and the precarious condition of the nation’s economy and security.

Though incumbency factor ought to play a major role in determining where polls swing. Many northerners who have assessed the performance of this government say it has not delivered the campaign promises of 2015.The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the Northern youths are of the opinion that Buhari may not rely much on the incumbency factor, rather he should pay attention to the dividends of democracy, which his party promised to deliver three years ago.

Northern youths have started mounting campaign of regime change, claiming that Buhari has frittered opportunity he got in 2015. They claim that he failed to live up to their expectations in addressing the ills of society.Leader of Arewa Youth For Progress and Development (AYPD), Comrade Danjuma Sarki told The Guardian that there is no way Buhari can return after the 2019 elections, considering his poor performance and inability to unite the country.

He said: “In the first place, there is no performance on the side of President Buhari. If you look at the various sectors, he has performed so badly that Nigeria is retrogressing every day. Buhari’s government has plunged Nigeria into its darkest days.”Sarki explained: “Today, the Nigerian economy is in a very poor state, if you look at the level of unemployment, it has risen tremendously and over 20 million people have lost their jobs since he came to power.”

“The government has gone ahead to borrow more than any other government that existed in the history of Nigeria. But it just recovered 398m dollars of Abacha loot, which is being shared to poor masses, instead of putting it into serious developmental use; all because government is bereft of ideas.

“So, the money you said you are going to give the poorest of the poor is even more than the money you went and signed for in China. Can you see the hypocrisy in Buhari’s government? Why don’t you use that money if you actually know that you needed it for development? But, no, because they are preparing for election, they have abandoned everything about the economy and decided to find ways to divert Abacha loot.”

Comrade Sarki further argued: “If you look at roads today, can you tell me any road this administration has started and completed in three years. Now, they started some roads with billions of naira, sinking billboards everywhere. Now they have started giving excuses that they cannot continue because of the rainy season. None of the roads this government started has reached 30 percent completion.”

“Go to the health sector and tell me any one federal health institution you know this government has revamped.  We are not even talking about building of a new health institution. Rather, he has encouraged medical tourism, which he personally championed and obtained resident permit for in London.”

The Arewa Youth leader also faulted the fight against corruption crusade championed by the President, saying: “Buhari rode on the toga that he is a saint and a holy person; but now Nigerians can see that what those in government are doing is just pretence and deceit and using religion, ethnic and tribal sentiments to divide Nigerians.”

On its part, the ACF said it would maintain its neutrality regarding who will represent the north in 2019.According to Arewa leaders, Buhari should be assessed against his performance in three years.

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