A group, Arewa Youths for Peaceful Coexistence, has urged Northerners, especially clerics who are criticising the appointment of former Rivers State Governor, Barrister Nyesom Wike, as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), to stop dangerous ethno-religious politics, saying that the leadership of the FCT Ministry is not the birthright of Northern Nigeria.
Addressing a world press conference in Kaduna on Wednesday, the Chairman of Arewa Youths for Peaceful Coexistence, Comrade Haruna Bature, noted that despite Nigeria getting its petroleum resources from the South, the Minister of Petroleum and the current NNPC GMD have been from the North, without anyone raising an issue from the South.
Bature stressed that what the North and the entire Nigeria should be focusing on is competence, charisma, and capacity, not ethnicity, which will not advance the country.
According to him, “We are totally in disagreement with some Islamic clerics’ assertion that a Christian from the South cannot be Minister of the FCT. The position of the FCT Minister is not an exclusive right of the North.
“As much as we are not trying to join issues with the religious leaders, we need to let the world know that the current FCT Minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike, is a detribalized Nigerian and a tested performer. We must, therefore, stop using ethnic arithmetic in whatever we are doing in this country.
“Besides Malam Nasir El-Rufai, what have the FCT Ministers that have come before Wike, who are Northerners, done? So, we should be talking about competence, charisma, and capacity, not ethnicity that will not take us anywhere.
“Going by his antecedent as a local government Chairman, as one-time Chief of Staff to the Governor of Rivers State, as Minister of Education, and two-term Executive Governor, he has all it takes to be Minister of the FCT and he has so far performed creditably well. And we are sure that the North will not be disappointed at the end of the day.
“We should also be reminded that we get our petroleum resources from the South, but over time, the Minister of Petroleum has been from the North, and nobody from the South has complained bitterly. So, why is the issue of the FCT generating heat? The FCT is Nigeria’s capital; it is not for the North alone and it is not for the South alone.
“We are, therefore, asking Northerners to support Wike regardless of his tribe, religion, or ethnicity. We don’t agree with the argument that the FCT Minister must come from the North. We are in total support of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his appointment of Barrister Nyesom Wike.
“We, Arewa Youths for Peaceful Coexistence, believe that His Excellency Nyesom Wike’s appointment is a great asset to the North, and the nation at large. His commitment to transparency, accountability, and good governance is a breath of fresh air in Nigeria’s political landscape,” Bature said.