Kwankwaso Saying The North Will Only Vote For Northern Candidates Is Disrespectful – Group

The Arewa Youths Progressive Alliance has come out to dissociate itself from a comment credited to the presidential candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso, that voters from the North would only vote for the region’s presidential candidates.

The group recently had its say via a press statement, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to The Arewa Youths Progressive Alliance, the North is neither anti-progress nor xenophobic against other Nigerians, and any other statement saying otherwise should not be taken seriously.

The group added that the impression created by the former Governor of Kano State is not only disrespectful to the region, it also misrepresents the true characters of an average northern voter.

It read, “Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwanso’s utterances portray the North as retrogressive and the average northern voter as insensitive and unconcerned about the sufferings of Nigerians and the high rate of insecurity and economic woes bedevilling Nigeria, and rather concerned about having ‘fellow northerner and fellow Muslim’ perpetuate themselves in power.”

“Nothing can be farther from the truth. The northerner experiences the same level of frustration with the state of governance in the country that the average Nigerian from any part of Nigeria experiences and wishes like every Nigerian that things improve for the better and that the most capable and most prepared individuals take charge of governance at different levels, including the presidency of the country, for the betterment of Nigeria.”

“Just because a Northerner is the President, has the North fared any better in infrastructure or living standards merely because a Northerner or a Muslim is the President of the country?”

“The former governor of Kano State insults the North by portraying us as some insensitive group of people without the capacity to think for ourselves. This is not true. He sends the impression out there that our votes are owned by some elites and that it is these elites who will decide how we will vote in every election.”

“If that was true in the past, that is set to change, because we are not slaves. We are capable of dreaming and holding strongly to our dreams. We are capable of working for and participating actively in political activities, independently and with the aim of bringing about the kind of government that shall serve the best interest of the average Nigerian.”

“In the last seven years, more than 100,000 Northerners have been killed by bandits and terrorists, and thousands of our daughters, wives, mothers and sisters have either been raped, abducted or forcefully married out.”

“Our farms are lying fallow and our harvests haven’t been poorer. Yet, a Northerner is the President. We voted for this Northerner, not because he is a Northerner, but because we believed he had the best of intentions and had the capacity to turn things around for good, for the benefit of all Nigerians. But, we are disappointed.”