Senate Presidency: Arewa Rejects Lawan, Says He Is A Stooge

AISHA ABUBAKAR

Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) has rejected the choice of Senator Ahmed Lawan as Senate President, saying it would turn the Senate into a mere rubber-stamp of a certain Southwest politician.

The group in a media release signed by its National President, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, on Thursday said it would be shameful for the North to “sit back and a watch a single Southwest politician deciding for the Northeast in particular and the North in general”, adding that “this is totally undemocratic and therefore unacceptable to true Northerners”.

The AYCF said allowing the imposition of Lawan to stand will portray the North as a mere manipulable pawn in the hands of one man, who has no business deciding for the North what it deserves. It explained that much as it was decided that the Senate President should come from the Northeast, the Zone must be allowed to decide on the most acceptable choice, “which is now obviously Senator Ali Ndume”.

The statement challenged “anyone with convincing reason as to why Senator Lawan would not be acting the script of a Southwest politician who single-handedly imposed him on Nigeria, to come forward with such facts”.

The group also stated that the growing concern over Senator Lawan’s imposition “is all about the political future of the North and especially the journey towards 2023 and therefore we won’t tolerate any one-man agenda”.