2019: We never asked Buhari, Atiku to drop presidential ambitions –Northern group

The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), a youth group from the region, has reacted to the claim that it said President Muhammadu Buhari, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and anyone above 70 should jettison plans of emerging Nigeria’s President in 2019.

The group in a statement on Wednesday denied the report describing it as a misrepresentation and should be disregarded.

Media reports had quoted the Arewa youth group as rejecting Buhari, Atiku and others above 70 during its two-day summit in Kaduna.

But Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, spokesman of CNG, who denied the claim in a statement issued in Lagos, argued that the group never discussed individual aspiration at the two-day summit.

He explained that the communiqué the group issued at the end of the summit only highlighted its support for structural reform of Nigeria with condition that only youths between ages 18 and 60 should represent the North.

He said, “The attention of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has been drawn to certain misrepresentations of parts of its communiqué of May 21, 2018 by a section of the media.

“While we do not want to believe that the misrepresentations, though very fundamental, were maliciously made, we nevertheless owe the public a duty to straighten the records. At the end of our two-day summit at Arewa House, Kaduna, a five-page communiqué was read by our spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, in which we categorically stated that the North fully supports the restructuring of the country and shall be prepared to represent itself in any debate thereon.

“Our coalition said the North supported structural reforms, with certain conditions. One of the terms is that those who will carry the banner to any future discussion with regards to Nigerian federal arrangement should be within the 18 to 60 years bracket.

READ ALSO: Anybody above 70 should give way’— Northern youth group rejects Buhari, Atiku

“We said this out of a patriotic conviction that the older men who have been speaking and running the country since independence should cease to take the front seats at such national discourses. The coalition was, however, quite surprised by some reports by a section of the media, tending to suggest that we have asked certain aspirants to the 2019 presidency to shelve their ambition.

“We wish to respond here that at no time did the individual aspiration of any politician ever came up at our two-day summit nor was it mentioned anywhere in the communiqué we read. Our summit and subsequent communiqué essentially concentrated on the issue of restructuring. Nowhere, and at no time, did we discuss such matters as the 2019 presidency.”

 

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