The National Leader of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Alhaji Shettima Yerima, has said that the President Bola Tinubu he knows as a “pro-democracy activist” is no longer the one occupying the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Yerima said those of them who were pro-democracy activists in the trenches with the president to enthrone the nation’s fledgling democracy now have reservations about him.
The National President of the AYCF who was a former Youth Director of the political pressure group, NADECO, which fought the late General Sani Abacha military junta, in the early 90s noted that judging from the current policies of the ruling APC administration, he hoped that President Tinubu has not been hijacked by the usual “Aso Rock Cabal” as experienced in the immediate past regime.
Specifically, he raised doubt over some of the appointments of the president that tend to neglect the youths in preference to the old brigades.
Speaking with Arewa PUNCH, Yerima, said, “Some of us now have our reservations about the President. The Bola Tinubu that I know and that I once worked in the trenches is a totally different person now. I hope it’s not what I am thinking, and I don’t want to believe that he would be hijacked by the same characters.
“I expect that by the coming of Tinubu, certain things would have happened where he would begin to believe in this present generation than the old men of the past who had worked with him and the same people coming back tactically behind the doors. Some of them have a lot of influence on the government. I hope that he will not allow himself to be carried away.
“He should learn from what happened to his predecessor. I hope he will be remembered positively because my prayers are that this present government that I ascribed as ‘our government’ should live up to expectations.
“I have my reasons when I said it’s our government. It is our government because it’s a product of our struggle. Even though I have worked closely with him and recently, from a far distance, I still relate very well to him. I am one of those behind the scenes with my counterpart, Muhajid Asari Dokubo, making statements for Tinubu’s presidency.”
The youth leader admonished the president to learn from former President Muhammadu Buhari, who surrounded himself with those who caged him while presiding over the affairs of the country between 2015 and 2023.
