The Middle Belt Youth Leaders have described comments credited to the President of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), Mallam Yerima Shettima over the ongoing #ENDSARS protests as a threat to the fragile peace and unity of Nigeria.
The AYCF president (Shettima) was quoted to have threatened that the North would go to war if the #EndSARS protesters demand the resignation of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Reacting in a statement signed by Comrades Nasiru Jagaba, Chris Aba, and Emmanuel Zopmal Tuesday, the Coalition of Middle Belt Youth Leaders said “This is not the first time Shettima is threatening the peace of our nation as he had issued a similar threat in the past as contained in the ‘Kaduna Declaration’ in which he ordered all Igbo residing in the North to leave within three months or face daring consequences.”
The coalition said the youth leaders of the Middle Belt after an emergency meeting came to the conclusion that “our region and peoples are no longer part of the perceived North and, in the event of any war against the South, the teeming youths of the Middle Belt shall not participate in any war against our Southern brothers.”
“We state here without ambiguity that the current #EndSARS demonstrations are not only restricted to ending SARS brutality, but also committed to making Nigeria work for all citizens across ethnic, religious, socio-economic and geo-political divides.
“We dismiss as a complete hogwash attempts by the AYCF to portray the #EndSARS protests as enmeshed in subterranean schemes to pull down the President Buhari-Federal Government. As Middle Belt youth leaders, we deprecate Shettima’s threat and hereby insist that our nationalistic youths are only actively engaged in these demonstrations to end the cruelty of police and demand a just system for a nation.
“It is tragic that the AYCF president has not found it apt to protest the uncontrolled banditry and insurgence ripping across the area Shettima claims to represent. We are alarmed that that despite upsetting statistics by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) that show that the dreaded Boko Haram has so far killed over 37,500 people and displaced an estimated 3.5 million people or more, including the killing of 15,000 in Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, Benue, Sokoto and Plateau states, the AYCF has remained silent and refused to protest against these unprovoked murders and destruction ravaging most areas of the North.
“It is worrisome that despite having more than 15 million children that are currently out of school, among them 10 million street children who are popularly known as almajirai, there is no doubt that our future has been imperiled. Therefore, we are left with no option than to condemn Shettima’s threat.”
