A Northern youth group, Arewa Equity Movement (AEM), has alleged that President Bola Tinubu has abandoned projects awarded by the Muhammadu Buhari administration in northern parts of the country, especially Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano highway.
According to the group, Tinubu has violated his inauguration pledge to be fair to all parts of the country.
Speaking to newsmen at a press conference in Kaduna on Monday, the secretary general of the group, Comrade Ibrahim Usman Kaita, described the president as the most sectional leader Nigeria has ever had, while accusing him of failing to see the entire country as his constituency.
Kaita said, “In the last nine months, President Tinubu has demonstrated in most cases that he did not belong to the whole country but to a group; his tribe, which is contrary to what he said in his inaugural speech of Renewed Hope.
“For instance, the all-important Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano highway was an ongoing project which was receiving great attention before President Tinubu took over, but nine months later, nothing is happening. The project has been abandoned by Federal Ministry of Works under His Excellency, Dave Umahi.
“I make bold to say that reverse has been the case. The ‘Renewed Hope’ belongs to some region but not the entire Nigeria.”
The group said the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano highway is the only most important gateway to the entire Northern region from other parts of the country including the federal capital, Abuja.
The secretary general also alleged that the president’s appointments into his government is skewed against the North, accusing him of nepotism and favouritism.
He stated, “Unfairness and nepotism have been the staple characteristics of the Tinubu administration.
“The governments need not be told that discrimination is a danger to any society, particularly, a plural society like ours.
“Probably, it never occurred to President Bola Tinubu that he is president of the entire country and not just a section; and that he was elected by all zones of Nigeria, including the Northern zones; without the votes from the North, he would not have become President of Nigeria.
He said Tinubu should immediately order the Minister of works, Dave Umahi to resume immediate work on Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano highway without delay, for equity and justice.
“Our group considered it an obligation to make this press conference from a standpoint of patriotism to tell the whole world the failures of the present administration, especially in the areas of projects in the country,” Kaita stressed.
Kaita said that the North would not vote for the president in 2027 if he continues to neglect the region, especially on Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano highway.
He appealed to Northern governors and members of the National Assembly from the region to intervene in the abandonment of the highway, so that the contractor could be mobilise to sites and continue with the project, in the overall interest of the people.
The group blasted ministers from the North who are serving under the present administration, saying that all they are doing is doing the bidding of their master and not speaking for the region.