AREWA YOUTHS MOBILIZE TO IMPEACH JONATHAN

Angered by the current political crises facing
Nigeria, northern leaders, youths as well as
progressives from other parts of the country
are planning a series of protests geared at
pushing the National Assembly to begin
impeachment moves against President
Goodluck Jonathan.
The President of the Arewa Youth
Consultative Forum, AYCF, Alhaji Shettima
Yerima, disclosed this to P.M. NEWS
Wednesday, saying this was the outcome of
the meeting he was part of Tuesday.
He said the mobilisation had begun and
that, all other things being equal, the mass
protests would begin in the coming weeks.
“We are going to organise a mass protest to
the National Assembly for the impeachment
of President Jonathan. The situation under
him is no longer bearable and we cannot
fold our hands to see him truncate a
democracy many fought for with their lives
and blood. We are currently meeting,” he
told P.M.NEWS on the phone.
He urged other progressives to join the
effort to sanitise governance in the country,
saying it was for the benefit of every citizen.
Recalling the incident that occurred in Port
Harcourt, Rivers State, southsouth Nigeria,
Tuesday, during which four governors from
the northern part of the country were held
hostage by anti-Governor rotimi Amaechi
protesters, he said this was why well-
meaning Nigerians had clamoured for a
change of the constitution for true
federalism.
“They came to see the chairman of the
Nigerian Governors Forum(Amaechi)and to
show solidarity, but what happened was
unfortunate.
“We have decided not to look at the issue as
an attack against ‘northern governors’ but
an attack on duly elected governors of the
country. This government does not have
respect for the rule of law.
“Any moment from now, we are going to
start compelling the National Assembly to
start the impeachment of the President,” he
declared.
He also noted that such brigandage cannot
happen in the United States as President
Barack Obama cannot demean any governor
of a state in that country like it is happening
here in Nigeria.
Yesterday, in reaction to the current political
turmoil in the country, six prominent socio-
cultural and political groups in the north-
the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, the
Northern Elders Forum, NEF, the Northern
Union, NU, the Arewa Reawakening Forum,
ARF, Arewa Research and Development
Project, ARDP, and the Code Group, CG,
accused the President of leading the country
to anarchy, lamenting the level of
lawlessness and high-handedness that has
overtaken the political landscape of the
country.
They also accused Patience Jonathan, wife of
the President, of abusing the rule of law just
because of her husband’s desire to stay in
office beyond 2015.
Speaking through Ango Abdullahi, former
Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University,
they warned President Jonathan not to
recontest, saying he “must be ready to
concede power to a northerner in 2015.
According to them, “the alarming rate at
which politicians tend to manoeuvre
themselves to vantage positions for the
electoral contests of 2015 is a major threat
to the elections themselves and ultimately
the democratic process.
“The clumsy and embarrassing conduct and
fallout of the election in the Governor’s
forum, the engineered crisis in the ruling
party, the role of the spouse of the President
in affairs of the state and shameful and
disturbing abuse of power and rule of law
in Rivers State are signs that Nigeria is
descending into anarchy and lawlessness
rarely seen in our history.”CULLED FROM PM NEWS