The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), has condemned former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara over his recent comments where he showed support for President Bola Tinubu while blaming past northern leaders over the backwardness of the region.
Yakubu had, while delivering a keynote address at a town hall meeting for Christian leaders in northern Nigeria on Friday, said the region has remained impoverished due to its leaders’ inability to invest in meaningful projects when they were in power for over four decades.
Speaking at the event with the theme “Church and Society: Tax Reforms and Matters Arising,” Dogara stated that President Tinubu is not the problem of the North, adding that the South had not come to cheat the northern people.
“We are all northerners, and it should be made clear that President Tinubu or the South is not our problem; they have not come to cheat the North,” the former Speaker had said.
“That is out of the question. Some are claiming that Yoruba people are getting appointments, but let’s reflect. We ruled this country for over 40 years when northerners were in power. What did we achieve? The North remains the same, impoverished by our own leaders,” he added.
But in a statement on Tuesday, the CNG criticized Dogara over the open support for Tinubu, describing his comments as a political somersault while also accusing him of hypocrisy and inconsistency.
In the statement issued by the North-East Coordinator of the CNG, Abubakar Isah Waziri, the group expressed its disappointment over Dogara’s “newfound admiration for President Tinubu” which it said was driven by personal ambition rather than genuine political principles.
READ ALSO: I’ve never lied against anyone, Dele Farotimi asserts as he regains freedom
“Dogara’s hypocrisy is an insult to northerners,” Waziri said.
“As Speaker of the House of Representatives, he had the power to champion the region’s development but failed miserably. We challenge him to name a single meaningful contribution he made to his constituency or the North during his tenure.
“It is laughable that Dogara now parades himself as a champion of northern interests. His record is one of betrayal and division.
“Through his so-called Middle-Belt agenda, Dogara promoted ethno-religious bigotry, stoking disunity and undermining northern cohesion. He has done more harm than good to the region he now claims to defend.”
The CNG also accused Dogara was trying to pull blind wool over the eyes of northerners, “pretending to be championing the cause of the Arewa people, when, in fact, he was a desperate office/position seeker, who had since lost his political relevance.”
The CNG therefore, called on northerners to remain vigilant and hold their leaders accountable for actions affecting the region’s progress and unity.
“We therefore wish to state, for the records, as follows. Former Speaker Yakubu Dogara’s sudden U-turn is nothing but a desperate attempt to curry favour and secure political patronage from the Tinubu administration,” the group stated.
The post ’You are on your own’, Northern coalition knocks Dogara for supporting Tinubu appeared first on Latest Nigeria News | Top Stories from Ripples Nigeria.