The National Leader of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), Shettima Yerima, has expressed reservations about the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Shettima, during an interview with PUNCH, said Tinubu, who was once a pro-democracy activist, is no longer the person in the seat of power at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The AYCF National President, who was a former Youth Director of the political pressure group, NADECO, which fought the late General Sani Abacha’s military junta, in the early 90s, said those of them who were pro-democracy activists in the trenches with Tinubu to enthrone the nation’s fledgling democracy now have reservations about him.
He hoped that President Tinubu’s government had not been hijacked by the usual ‘Aso Rock Cabal’ as experienced in the immediate past administration of Muhammadu Buhari.
Shettima also faulted some of Tinubu’s appointments where youths are neglected in preference to the old brigades.
The youth leader admonished the President to learn from Buhari, who surrounded himself with those who caged him while presiding over the affairs of the country between 2015 and 2023.
He said, “Some of us now have reservations about the President. The Bola Tinubu that I know and that I once worked on in the trenches is a totally different person now. I hope it’s not what I am thinking, and I don’t want to believe that he would be hijacked by the same characters.
“I expect that by the coming of Tinubu, certain things would have happened where he would begin to believe in this present generation than the old men of the past who had worked with him and the same people coming back tactically behind the doors. Some of them have a lot of influence on the government. I hope that he will not allow himself to be carried away.
“He should learn from what happened to his predecessor. I hope he will be remembered positively because my prayers are that this present government that I ascribed as ‘our government’ should live up to expectations.
“I have my reasons when I said it’s our government. It is our government because it’s a product of our struggle. Even though I have worked closely with him and recently, from a far distance, I still relate very well to him. I am one of those behind the scenes with my counterpart, Muhajid Asari Dokubo, making statements for Tinubu’s presidency.”
