Group, Arewa Youths for Peaceful Co-existence has told northerners especially clerics criticising the appointment of former River State Governor, Nyesom Wike as the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to stop promoting dangerous ethno-religious politics because the FCT Ministry is not a birthright of Northern Nigeria.

Addressing newsmen in Kaduna, the Chairman of the group, Haruna Bature noted for example that despite Nigeria getting its petroleum resources from the South, over time, the Minister of Petroleum and current Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited NNPCL were from the North without issue form Southerners.

To Bature, every right-thinking Nigerian should be concerned and talk about competence, charisma, and capacity, not ethnicity which would not take the country anywhere.

To him, “we are totally in disagreement with what some Islamic clerics are saying that a Christian from the South cannot be Minister of FCT. The position of the FCT Minister is not an exclusive right of the North.

“As much as we are not trying to join issues with the religious leaders, we need to let the world know that, the current FCT Minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike is a detribalized Nigerian and a tested performer. We must therefore stop using ethnic arithmetics in whatever we are doing in this country.

“Aside from Malam Nasir El-Rufai, what have the FCT Ministers that have come before Wike who are Northerners done? So, we should be talking about competence, charisma, and capacity, not ethnicity which will not take us anywhere.

“Going by his antecedent as a local government Chairman, as one time Chief of Staff to the Governor of River State, as Minister of Education and two-term Executive Governor, he has all it takes to be Minister of FCT and he has so far performed creditably well. And we are sure that, North will not be disappointed at the end of the day.

“We should also be reminded that we get our petroleum resources from the South, but over time, the Ministers of Petroleum were from the North, and nobody has complained bitterly from the South. So, why is the issue of FCT generating heat? FCT is Nigeria’s capital; it is not for the North alone and it is not for the South alone.

“We are therefore asking Northerners to support Wike regardless of his tribe, religion, or ethnicity. We don’t agree with the argument that the FCT Minister must come from the North. We are in total support of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his appointment of Barrister Nyesom Wike.

“We Arewa Youths for Peaceful Co-Existence believe that His Excellency Nyesom Wike’s appointment is a great asset to the North and the Country at large. His commitment to transparency, accountability, and good governance is a breath of fresh air in Nigeria’s political landscape,” Bature argued. (Daily Sun)

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