Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-cultural and political group under the leadership of Reuben Fasoranti, has dismissed Rabiu Kwankwaso’s claim that President Bola Tinubu is marginalising the north.
On Thursday, Kwankwaso, presidential candidate of the New
Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in 2023, accused the federal government of
concentrating resources in one part of the country while neglecting other
regions.
The former governor of Kano state also alleged that
mismanagement of resources at the national, state, and local levels has
worsened poverty and insecurity, especially in the north.
Reacting in a statement on Friday, Abagun Omololu, national
organising secretary of the Fasoranti-led faction of Afenifere, described the
claim as “grossly misleading” and “deliberately incendiary”.
Omololu said it is unfortunate that Kwankwaso, a former
governor and minister, would make such comments without regard for facts.
He said the north “enjoyed significant federal attention
under the late former President Muhammadu Buhari,” which Kwankwaso “has
conveniently ignored”.
“No region in Nigeria has received more federal presence in
the last decade than the north,” he said.
Omololu cited the Kano-Maradi railway project that extended
into the Republic of Niger as an example of Buhari’s “skewed infrastructure”.
“Was that project meant for national integration or to aid
cross-border movement of Fulani kinsmen?” he asked.
He said major road projects have already been awarded in the
north, including “the dualisation of the Kano-Maiduguri road,
Sokoto-Tambuwal-Jega road, and the Abuja-Keffi-Lafia corridor”.
“The Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline is being
fast-tracked, and billions were recently approved for infrastructure in
Katsina, Borno, and Niger states,” he added.
Omololu also accused Kwankwaso of “stoking regional tension”
and pushing “a false narrative of southern favouritism”.
“Development is a gradual process,” he said, urging leaders
to avoid “ethnic rhetoric” and allow “statesmen, not ethnic lords, to shape the
national conversation.”
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