The All Progressives Congress (APC) North-South Progressive Youth Stakeholders have appealed to the party’s leadership to respect the bond and alliance between the North and South by working to ensure electoral victory for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, its presidential candidate.
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Mr Alwan Hassan, the convener of the group, made the appeal at a news conference on Sunday in Abuja, saying that certain persons were working against the party’s electoral victory in the coming elections.
He described such persons as non-progressive elements within the presidency who had been fingered to be the purveyors of the ploy.
He added that the antics of such persons not only rubbish the impacts recorded in the North-South Progressive Alliance but also completely place it in jeopardy.
“These individuals with their clandestine motives have continued to play with our unity as a country,” he said.
According to Hassan, such individuals are using their powers to inflict needless hardship on Nigerians for their selfish and devilish interests and to pitch the people against the APC government.
He noted that the country’s politics and development had benefitted from the rich and cordial relationship that existed between the North and South as far back as the pre-independence era.
“Our forebears stood against the colonial masters and, hand-in-hand, made the case for self-rule, for independence and for the birth of our great nation — Nigeria.
“All through the years, successive northern leaders, both military and civilians, have continued to respect the bond between northern and southern Nigeria.
“Thus paying great respect to the virtues and commitment to the ideals of national unity espoused by great leaders like Uthman Dan Fodio and the great Sir Ahmadu Bello,” he said.
He described the two northern leaders as conservative Nigerian statesmen who saw Northern Nigeria through independence.
Hassan further noted that the symbiotic alliance between the North and South had greatly benefitted the northern part of the country.
“Recent history particularly throws up an idolised northern political figure and friend of the talakawa who benefitted from this deep relationship with the South after three failed attempts at the ballot.
“Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, as he then was, wasn’t going to emerge President of Nigeria until the North-South alliance was re-enacted in late 2013, with Tinubu and others driving it.
“This birthed the APC in 2015 to challenge the destructive and elitist political party that has misgoverned Nigeria into abject poverty,” Hassan said.
He added that this same collaboration and alliance with the South saw the emergence of Buhari for a second term as the country’s president in 2019.
He said the Buhari-led government which was largely a product of the alliance had delivered a Nigeria where infrastructure was being developed across the country’s length and breadth.
He added that this was with the government renewing its focus on making better the lives of the poor considerably and progressively.
“This is the impact we have seen with the progressive alliance, and this is what should continue as we move into the elections in a few weeks.
“Anything different from this would mean that we are risking the likelihood of reversing all the progress that has been made under the APC government in almost eight years.
“We call on all well-meaning Nigerians to resist this attempt to force us back to the dark days and to join hands with us to fight the enemies of Nigeria and its progressive future.
“We must not only expose all the enemies of Nigeria who have resolved to deploy avoidable hardship to force their will on Nigerians;
“We must also ensure we shame them by confronting their gimmicks with superior courage and go ahead to put in place a government for Nigeria and Nigerians come February 25,” he said.
He advised Nigerians not to fall to the pressure and blackmail to elect a government dictated by the cabals in the presidency, saying that Nigerians of Northern extraction and progressive tendency should speak up.
He added that the North could not be seen as a dishonourable region and completely self-centred.
“This is not us or what we represent, this is not our faith, and this is not what we are known to be. The North is honourable, we honour our alliance and commitments.
“We honour our agreements, it is the fundamentals of our faith.
“And we must not allow the selfish interests of a few who are blinded to history, and who are completely unmindful of the future, to destroy what we have been known for.
“We have a duty, we have commitment, and we must transit power to the South now, rather than later, we can not scuttle what we have built with hard work and with great sacrifice,” Hassan stressed.
He added that should the North fail in the alliance that produced Buhari as president at this time, it would have failed its future and threatened the political fortunes of millions of young Northern politicians.
He wondered if the South West would ever trust the North again if it failed in the alliance and what message it would be sending to its future generations and posterity.
He said the group understood the grand conspiracy playing out to frustrate the transition of power to the South ranging from the sudden naira re-design policy and the artificial fuel scarcity.
Hassan said all this was meant to piss off the electorate and dissuade them from voting for the APC in the coming elections slated to begin on Feb.5.
“We as the future of the North are totally against these devilish plans that did not even consider the plights of the masses and the poor.
“We would stand and speak against the conscienceless individuals in the corridors of power.
“We would ensure that they do not destroy our future and the continued progress promised by the progressive and working alliance between our region and the south,” he said