Arewa Youths accuse Lagos of sidelining northerners in distribution of COVID-19 palliatives

The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) has accused the Lagos State government of not sharing COVID-19 palliatives to Arewa Community in the state.

Following the lockdown in Lagos State and some other states over COVID-19 scare, Lagos has been sharing palliatives to residents to cushion the effect of the action.

However, in a statement by Alhaji Yerima Shettima, the national president of AYCF, the forum slammed Lagos State government for neglecting northerners in the distribution of the palliatives.

The group’s statement read:

“It has come to the notice of our organization that the Arewa community in Lagos state has been totally left out in the distribution of palliatives in the ongoing lockdown.

“We wish to, therefore, indicate our position as follows:

“1. We share pain and agony of the Arewa community for being neglected by the Lagos state government as if they not residents of the State. And we believe that this is totally unacceptable.

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“2. We wish to remind the Lagos State Government that the palliative is not a gift but a right for all the people in the State, regardless of which part of Nigeria they came from. The Covid-19 is a global problem and anywhere there is lockdown the authorities come forward with food and other essentials for the people of the communities where pandemic is infecting and killing people. We are appalled that the Lagos State Government has neither offered the palliative to the Arewa community nor make any official announcement about its plans for the Arewa community.

“3. We wish to remind the Lagos State Government that it would be doing no special favor to the Area community by giving them what rightly belongs to them. All relevant laws are here to confirm the difference between pandemic palliatives and favors by a government.

“4. It is uncivilized, unthinkable and unacceptable for the Lagos State Government to abandon the Arewa community in this crucial hour of need. There now a pandemic and there’s the attendant lockdown for which no reasonable government will fold its arms and watch citizens in avoidable suffering.

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“We, at the AYCF, say no to this open selective patronage in One Nigeria. A skewed process that takes the suffering of a section of its citizens as less important than that of other citizens stands condemnable by all Nigerian men and women of conscience.

“To be forewarned is to be forearmed.”

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