The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum has berated what it calls Neglegence of the Arewa Community in an ongoing distribution of palliatives during the lockdown.
In a statement signed by the National President Yerima Shettima and made available to Control TV, the president warns of the dangers saying the consequences could be detrimental to the wellbeing of Northerners in Lagos whom he said are equally confronted by COVID-19.
Mr. Shettima Noted 5 aggreaved positions which he said must be met by the Lagos state government including;
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.
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 come 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 not right for the Lagos State Government to abandon the Arewa community in this crucial hour of need. There is now a pandemic and a lockdown for which no government should fold its arms and watch citizens in avoidable suffering.
5. “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.”
On it’s part the Lagos state government through its Commissioner for information Mr. Gbenga Omotosho has reiterated at different fora the states committement to get palliatives to the poor of the poor and vulnerable in the state.
(C) Control TV 2020.
