Northern youths warn Kwankwaso over comment on insecurity

By Innocent Raphael

The Coalition of Northern Youth Movement (CNYM) has warned Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso, the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in the 2023 general elections, cautioning him against making negative remarks about the country’s security situation.

CNYM gave the warn following Kwankwaso’s comments during the NNPP National Executive Committee meeting in Abuja, where he expressed concern over the ongoing security challenges in Nigeria.

Despite acknowledging the Nigerian Army’s capability to address these issues, he highlighted the alarming trend of citizens facing difficulties accessing farmlands and being displaced from their communities.

“Our children are daily abused and taken away by criminals and bandits in hundreds,” he had stated.

In response, the CNYM in a statement on Wednesday, by its President, Dr. Talba Isah, asserted that the NNPP’s national leader had previously neglected to address security concerns during his tenures as Minister of Defence and Governor of Kano State.

The statement read in part, “We are also aware of the brand of political extremism that Kwankwaso propagated in Kano state, which spread to other parts of the northwest and mutated into banditry since the militant supporters of the Kano politicians reverted to lives of crime in the aftermath of election losses.

“It is certainly Kwankwaso’s desire to leverage NNPP as a means of spreading such political extremism across the country hence the tantrum when he found out that the current administration is taking steps that will mitigate the spread of any form of extremism.

“We further urge the one-time Minister of Defence and Governor of Kano State, Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso to acknowledge his place as a monumental failure who cannot lecture the Tinubu’s administration and the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on how to fight terrorism.”