The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) has posited that for taking over the property, allegedly belonging to late Olusola Saraki, father of former President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, by Kwara state government, Governor AbdulRahman Abdulrazaq was destroying Northern brotherhood.
The AYCF described the action by the governor as a desecration of the brotherhood that had reigned in the region and a fatal mistake by his administration.
In a statement signed by its national president, Yerima Shettima and made available to Newsdiaryonline on Sunday, the Forum warned the governor against abusing his powers.
It further noted that the land was used to care for the aged and the needy, a legacy that was sustained even with the death of Olusola.
It urged stakeholders and well-meaning Nigerians to intervene in what it described as brazen use of force by the governor while asking the Saraki family to fight back with every legal means at their disposal.
Full statement below:
The brazen use of force in to hijack the property of late scion of Kwara politics Alhaji Olusola Saraki by Governor… is a total disregard to the family of the late Democrat and an insult on the people of Kwara State. Consequently, we wish to state as follows:-
1. That the ongoing use of naked force by the Kwara State Government is a smear on decorum and has potentials to destroy the legacies of a politician who gave his all to make Kwara what it is today.
2. We take exception to the deployment of the powers of the state in a desperate move that smacks of political vendetta and failed attempt to rewrite history
3. We have learnt that late Saraki’s property that is being hijacked by the powers-that-be namely the Kwara state government is nothing but a war of attrition. This is because the property in question was being used by the late Olusola Saraki to take care of old people, the poor and the sick ones, who lack the resources to face the challenges of health, hunger and poverty. It is interesting to see that even after his death, this philanthropy has been sustained by the family. We therefore have reason to suspect that it was a mission in disguise to wipe out the empowerment legacies of the late Olusola Saraki. This is an abuse of office, a disservice to the people of Kwara and a ridiculing of the unity and brotherhood among northerners.
4. If the incumbent governor thinks he could destroy late Olusola Saraki’s legacies as a political gimmick of winning public sympathy, he is making a fatal mistake.
5. We call on the relevant stakeholders in Kwara to intervene by bringing an end to this self-destructive mission, which is capable of portraying the Northerners as haters of the custodians of their history and political culture.
6. We also urge the late Saraki family to use all available legal and constitutional backing to fight for their cause.
We urge the incumbent governor to bear in mind that power is transient.
Alhaji Yerima Shettima
National President
