Northern Youth Leaders Forum (NYLF) has cautioned south-east leaders to stop using youth who are not even northerners to fight their brother. The group was reacting to the statement credited to one Comrade Elliot Afiyo on behalf of northern youths.
Afiyo’s statement had called for the presidential flag-bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to look for another running mate that would be acceptable to them, saying that they would not support former Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State for allegedly being anti-north.
A statement signed by the NYLF president, Comrade Bajudu Joseph Mamman; its secretary, Comrade Garba Ubala, and representatives from other states in the north, denied Afiyo as their member and said that his name was, first and foremost, not a Hausa name.
The statement from the group reads: “Our attention has been drawn to a protest visit to His Excellency, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR at Abeokuta by a youth group impersonating the Northern Youth Leaders Forum, against the nomination of former Gov. Peter Obi, CON, as the Vice Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Ordinarily, we would wave off this impersonation as part of political intrigues we are aware of, but to mislead the nation by misleading a former president is unacceptable to us, therefore we cannot keep quiet while our organization is all over the media for the wrong reasons caused by people unknown to us.”
The group recalled how, on October 13 some people who turned out to be Igbo leaders invited them to Fajumali Hotel and Resort at No. 7 Mayere Road, Barnawa High Cost, Kaduna and offered them N10 million to publish that northern youths reject Obi as the vice presidential candidate. They said it was their refusal, which was widely published on social media that led to the declaration of using a fake name.
The group said that being at home with what Peter Obi did in Anambra State, that they asked them who was better than he is. They said they also requested to be told what those ones were doing when the same man they wanted them to reject was busy touring the entire North and offering support to schools.
In conclusion, the group submitted: “We are 100% supportive of our brother, HE Atiku Abubakar, GCON and his running mate, Mr Peter Obi and will work towards their victory which will hopefully reunite this nation and initiate healing across the land.”
