By Dada Ahmed
The Arewa Youth Forum,(AYF),has joined teeming Nigerians to commend President Muhammadu Buhari for listening to the yearnings and aspirations of the citizens by appointing new service chiefs.
Alhaji Gambo Ibrahim Gujungu, National President of the Forum, gave the commendation in a statement he signed and a copy made available to The Reporters, an online publication in Lokoja on Wednesday.
He said: “This singular act has shown that the President and Commander-in-Chief is sensitive to the desire of the citizenry and is ever determined to rejig the security architecture for national development,”he said.
He, therefore,urged the newly appointed service chiefs to justify the confidence reposed in them, describing them as seasoned military officers with impeccable credentials.
The Forum president reminded the service chiefs that their choice for the new appointment was on merit and therefore were expected to ensure positive changes in the security situation which it noted, had overtime become a sad story,particularly in the North.
He added :”Importantly,AYF is disheartened with current development in the polity which is threatening social cohesion and tends to drag the nation on a dangerous path towards disintegration.
“AYF, therefore,calls for caution and admonishes regional based ethnic groupings and associations to desist from issuing statements akin to beating war drums,which may not augur well for our continued unity,growth and survival as one indivisible nation envisaged by our founding fathers during the historic Lancaster Conference of 1958.
“It’s sad that tribal and socio-political contradictions were left to degenerate to an extent that even the Hausa and Fulani now appear to be antagonistic.
AYF called on the current leadership in the country to tackle the issues of the moment appropriately,with a view to ensuring that the corporate existence of Nigeria remains sacrosanct.
The Forum expressed the belief that the future lied with the youth in Nigeria, anchoring that on “clear signs of leadership failure on the part of the older generation.”
Gujungu expressed the continued of the Forum to sensitize the people, on the need for a generational change in leadership, adding that toward this end, it “shall soon convene a meeting, where a movement to spearhead such paradigm shift in the Nigerian polity will be actualized.”