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TITLE: Arewa Plots Crisis in Lagos, Northern Youths Allege |
AUTHOR: Saxone Akhaine |
PUB: The Guardian |
DATE: January 2, 2000 |
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A group of northern youths under the aegis of Northern Democratic Front (NDF), have dissociated themselves from an alleged by plan by some northern political leaders to forment crisis in the South-West, particularly Lagos State. Rising from a meeting held In Kaduna at the weekend, the NDF, a coalition of 13 youth organisations, alleged that top notchers of the Arewa Consultative Forum and some northern governors were sponsoring the printing and distribution of leaflets written in both Arabic, Hausa and English languages, to instigate Hausa communities to retaliate any attack on them. The Public Relations Officer of NDF, Alhaji Mohammed Sani, remarked that "already there is a plot by some leaders of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) prompting some youths to circulate leaflets written in Hausa, Arabic and English and calling on the Hausa community in Lagos not to agree with the peace initiative by some prominent people in the society, and to even disregard the panel of inquiry set up by the governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Tinubu recently." "And it was even as a result of that incitement that the Hausa community in Lagos issued a statement recently disassociating themselves from the panel of inquiry instituted by the Lagos State governor." Alhaji Sani, who said that the NDF has already began an enlightenment conferences for all youths in the 19 northern states, argued that "we are ready to fight against anything that would bring disharmony in the country." He explained that the coalition (NDF) had already identified the youth organisations being used by some section of the northern leaders to distribute the leaflet, pointing out that "so far, there are about 3 major youth organisations (names withheld). According to him, "they all have been incorporated into the plot by some section of the leaders to mobilise the Hausa Communities both in the north and the South-West to resist and come up openly with agitation and protest, which they feel with the leaflets in which they alleged that the Governor of Lagos is the one funding both factions of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC)". Said he: "the northern leaders have spent millions of naira to mobilise the youths on this agenda and to mobilise people against the governor of Lagos State whom they believe is sponsoring the southern governors meeting against the interest of the north." The NDF spokesman however, stressed that "the Northern Democratic Forum, which is the leading coalition of youths in the north is completely against the move by the ACF and some northern governors who have allowed themselves to be used to incite the Hausas against other tribes and I think this is really unfortunate." END |