Arewa group blasts Akande over anti-North comment

Northern socio-political organisation, the Arewa Consultative Forum, on Wednesday berated the former Interim National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Bisi Akande, over his statement considered to be antagonistic to the North.


Akande had alleged that most northern political elite and oil barons, among others, who are against the anti-corruption stance of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, were behind the election of leaders of the National Assembly, which has divided the ruling APC.

This, the ACF desrcibed as disappointing, reckless and uncharitable coming from a highly respected figure of Akande’s status.

It said the crisis in the National Assembly was not only of concern to the party but also to all Nigerians in view of the ugly development it had attracted.

The ACF, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Muhammad Ibrahim, in Kaduna, noted that it was sad that an elder statesman of Akande could link the North to the crisis at the National Assembly.

According the pan-northern body, such a statement could incite the region against the South-West of the country.

It added that the statement was not only uncharitable but one capable of deviating from the change agenda that Nigerian voted for in the last general elections.

The Forum wondered, in the first place, why the North, comprising more than 230 out of 250 tribes in the country, could conspire against the Yoruba.

ACF reminded Akande that the era of tribal and religious politics or inciting one tribe against the other was gone and had no place in the present government under Buhari.

The northern body, while appealing to the nation’s elders and all Nigerians to show decorum and civility in their utterances, noted that Buhari at this point in time, needed the support of all to clear the mess left behind by the Goodluck Jonathan-led Peoples Democratic Party administration.

The ACF pointed out that the crisis in the National Assembly should be addressed through the APC’s internal mechanism of resolving conflicts rather than through reckless and unguarded statements by elders, who are supposed to be custodian of wisdom.

It said, “The statement credited to Chief Bisi Akande former Chairman of ACN and one of the leaders of the ruling party, the All Progressive Congress, in most newspapers of June 30, 2015, that ‘Most northern elites, the Nigerian oil subsidy barons and other business cartels, who never liked President Buhari’s anti-corruption political stance, are quickly backing-up the rebellion against the APC with strong support. While other position seekers are waiting in the wings until Buhari’s ministers are announced, a large section of the South-West see the rebellion as a conspiracy of the North against the Yoruba’, is disappointing, reckless and unbecoming of an elder statesman of Chief Akande status.

“The crisis rocking the ruling party, All Progressive Congress, over the election of the National Assembly presiding officers and the composition of principal officers, is not only of concern to the ruling party but to all Nigerians in view of the ugly development in both chambers of the National Assembly.

“Therefore, it is sad that an elder statesman in the person of Chief Bisi Akande, who worked so tirelessly with other Nigerians to form APC, which subsequently won the 2015 elections at the federal level and many states, to now say that the crisis in the National Assembly is a ‘conspiracy of the North against the Yoruba’, is most disturbing.

“Why should the North, comprising more than 230 out of 250 tribes in the country, single out only one of the tribes, the Yoruba, to conspire against? What for?”