The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, has described Thursday’s meeting between former president Olusegun Obasanjo and his former deputy, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as the best thing that has happened to Nigeria in recent times.
The forum also stated that with nepotism and bad leadership allegedly going on in the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, Obasanjo has every reason to forgive Atiku.
Atiku, the standard bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2019 presidential election, had been at loggerheads with Obasanjo, with the latter vowing never to support his presidential bid.
However, Atiku was yesterday forgiven by Obasanjo who also endorsed him at a meeting in his country home in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
The meeting also had the presence of some front-line religious and political leaders in the country such as Bishop David Oyedepo, Bishop Matthew Kuka, and Sheikh Gumi, among others.
Reacting in an interview with DAILY POST on Friday, the AYCF President, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, said the meeting was necessary because the present administration needed to be ousted.
According to him, the meeting was not a gang up against President Muhammadu Buhari government, but a clarion call to save the nation’s democracy from bad leadership.
He said, “It is one of the best developments that have ever happened in recent times, this is because people thought it was impossible. They said Obasanjo never forgives but Obasanjo proved Nigerians wrong yesterday.
“He forgives because he is a patriot; he is an elder and a pan-African. For anyone who knows Obasanjo, he has always believed in one Nigeria and has always worked towards ensuring that Nigeria remains together.
“With nepotism going round in this present administration, Obasanjo has every reason to forgive anybody and he has demonstrated it and has done it well. To me, it’s one of the best things that has happened to this country recently.
“Well it is not about gang up. It’s about a clarion call where everybody know that this country is weak. Hope for this country is just being dashed out. People are hungry; people are frustrated; peoples are dying and it is obvious that we are sitting on a keg of gun powder and anything could have happened to this country the was it is going.
“It is time to promote democracy and that’s what is being demonstrated. It is nothing about gang up but all in the movement to take the country we cannot fold our arms and watch anti-democratic to come and destroy what we have worked for in the past two decades.
“So what happened was nothing but totally commitment to Nigeria and I’m sure others will join to ensure that this madness; this deceitfulness; the hunger, blackmail cannot continue; cannot hold this country together.
“That is what is being demonstrated. So what Gumi, Bishop, Oyedepo, Kuka did was a clearly historical. It was a move to save democracy. One cannot accuse Oyedepo of being card-carrying member of the PDP; Kuka and Gumi cannot not be accused of being card carrying members of any political party.
“Now people will understand that we cannot continue to hold on to this government. We must send them back to where they belong. You can be rest assured that in 2919 if this government comes back, then we are finish.
“God forbid that this government comes back in 2019. God will never allow them to come come because the God will serve is a merciful God and he’ll be there to intervene. He has always been there for Nigeria and he’ll do it again.
“This can never continue. This is the worse ever since I grew up. This government cannot pinpoint one thing they have done. They have not achieved anything only lies since the past 3 and a half years. They are fooling people.
“We must save the country. We must save those who are still blindly following this people. We cannot continue like this. It pains me because I’ve done a lot of sacrifices for this democracy. It’s not about PDP or APC but about the country. Some of us have suffered a lot of incarcerations.”
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