The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) on Wednesday cautioned against the gang up to split the Arewa community in Lagos State over chieftaincy matters.
Alhaji Yerima Shettima, the National President of AYCF, in a statement in Lagos, urged the State Government not to fold its hands and think all is well with the community.
He said that the dangerous move against the unity and brotherhood that had held the Arewa Community together for decades must be checked.
“Our attention has been drawn to the subtle attempt to deliberately create division amongst the Arewa Community in Lagos, through the backdoor, using the office of Alh. Kabiru Ahmed, the Waterfront Commissioner for Lagos State.
“This avoidable friction amongst the Arewa Community is obviously engineered by anti-peace and unity elements.
“We cannot fathom what is the business of a Waterfront Commissioner with the unity, recognition and respect of the monarch in the Arewa Community in Lagos.
“We are worried that the Arewa Community has been asking questions about why the Lagos State Government has allowed a Waterfront Commissioner to dominate or hijack what should ordinarily be the role for a Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs”, Shettima said.
The AYCF president cautioned against alleged meddling and interference by Ahmed, a member of the community, in a matter that strictly concerned the monarchy in the group.
“We would like to categorically state that this subtle attempt to disunite and destabilise the unity of the Arewa Community in Lagos would be met with legitimate resistance from northerners of good conscience within and outside Lagos.
“We will no longer fold our arms and watch the desecration of our traditional heritage in Lagos,” Shettima said
According to him, the AYCF condemns in the strongest terms the conspiracy to create bad blood and destabilise the Arewa Community, by creating wrong impressions about the Arewa Council-of-Chiefs’ established succession process.
Shettima urged Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu not to allow division and disunity in the group over chieftaincy matters to fester.