Irked by the comments credited to Alhaji Aliko Dangote which cast them as jobless youths seeking relevance, a coalition of northern
The youths also described Dangote as “final destination where every corrupt government official dump their public treasury loot.
” The coalition has the memberships of the 6 northern youth groups which recently issued a quit notice to Igbo people from the south east resident in the north to exit the region before October 1 this year.
The groups included Arewa Youth Consultative Forum led by Alhaji Yerima Shittima; Arewa Citizens Action for Change led by Nastura Sharif; Arewa Youth Development Foundation led by Aminu Adam; Arewa Students Forum led by Alfred Solomon; Northern Emancipation Network led by Abdul-Azeez Suleiman as well as Northern Youth Vanguard led by Joshua Viashman.
Gathered under the umbrella name, “Coalition of Northern Groups”, CNG, the youths accused Dangote of working against the cause of Northern region, saying he “can only boast of a very negligible presence by way of investment even in his birthplace, Kano while citing more than 70% in the South.”
According to a statement titled “In Response to Aliko Dangote’s Ranting”, signed by the spokesman of the group, Abdul-Azez Suleiman and released yesterday in Abuja, the youths said that they were not surprised that the business mogul took a parallel direction with other notable northerns such as Professor Ango Abdulahi in the quit notice because of his poor education or religious training.
Affirming their belief, the youths said that “Kaduna Declaration has finally exposed the bankruptcy of many northerners such as Dangote who have turned traitors after riding on the goodwill of the region’s past leaders who sacrificed everything to beaqueth a fair environment to future generations.”
Dangote while hosting Lagos Business School in Ijebu-Lekki, Lagos recently was quoted as saying “some guys who have no relevance and values came out to issue a warnign that Igbo should leave north. I am surprised everybody started talking about this nonsense.
Why are we talking about it? Obviously, in a place where there is a lot of joblessness, it is expected that this kind of jobless people wpuld come with all sorts of anger. We understand the reason why they are angry, but they cannot justify their action when they have decided not to work. They only issue senseless warning to keep themselves relevant.