North Can Only Overcome Numerous Challenges Through Unity – Babangida

Former military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, has stated that the North can only overcome its numerous challenges through unity.

Babangida stated this while receiving officials from the Northern Star Youth Empowerment Initiative (NSYEI) at his Hilltop residence in Minna, Niger State.

The elder statesman commended the NSYEI’s efforts, urging them to work tirelessly towards uniting the north and, ultimately, the entire country.

He said, “Only through unity can the north overcome its numerous challenges, which makes the birth of Northern Star movement at this time both commendable and timely.”

He stressed that unity was the key to overcoming the region’s challenges, making the NSYEI’s movement both timely and commendable.

The NSYEI officials, led by former Sokoto State governor Attahiru Bafarawa, co-chairperson Hajia Naja’atu Mohammed, and Director-General Dr. Abdullahi Idris, shared Babangida’s sentiments.

They emphasized the importance of unity among the diverse people of the north, which would allow the region to pursue its interests as a strong, unified entity within the Nigerian federation.

In other news, the secretary of the Eminent Elders Forum, Dr. Akin Fapohunda, has accused some few northern elites of holding Nigeria to ransom for over forty years based on tribalism and selfish interests.

Speaking during an appearance on Arise News while discussing the northern opposition to the tax reform bills proposed by President Bola Tinubu, Fapohunda submitted that the north has taken Nigeria for a ride for too long and it is time to call their bluff.

According to him, the North has forced policies such as federal character and quota system on the southern region while Nigerians from the south have been laid back in making demands.

Fapohuna argued that such policies have favoured the North over the South and only a few elite people in the North are benefitting from the federal policies at the expense of other citizens of the country.

He submitted that Nigeria must wake up and realize that the interests of the South and the North are not aligned.

Speaking specifically on the Tax Reform Bills, the Secretary of the Eminent Elders Forum was of the opinion that the proposals can never work because Nigeria is not a unified country and “cannot be unified at all” by a unitary tax system.

He said, “The North, at the flip of a switch, are able to shout Northern interest. Southerners are laid back, hoping that oh, we are civilised, we don’t want to talk about tribalism. Tribalism is at play, we are pretentious about this matter. Look, the North has taken us for a ride for too long, they’ve forced federal character on Nigeria over 40 years. They forced quota system on Nigeria over forty years. Have they benefitted from it? Only the tiny clique in the North is holding the whole country to ransom. It’s enough time for Nigeria to wake up, we are not together, North nor South.

“Now they are talking, the elites, the few elites in the North, as if feeding bottle is about to be removed from their mouth. That’s what they’re doing, they’re shouting, they have formed a league now – League of Northern Democrats. The governor of Bauchi was talking, they won’t be able to pay salaries again, they won’t be able to do that.

“Look, the North has damaged Nigeria fundamentally with this attitude. Who are the Nigerians who are japaing now? They’re Southerners. The South invested in education massively in the 50s and the 60s. The products now have been driven out of Nigeria. Can you find a Fulani man in London or in New York practicing medicine or practicing engineering? It’s the Yorubas, the Igbos, Southerners that are marginalised. It’s time to call the bluff of the North, not because we even support what Tinubu is doing, but we have to converse about Nigeria. Nigeria is not – we are pretentious. Let’s go to the brass tacks. That’s why we are calling for regionalisation, the North is separate from the South, that’s just the truth, unless we are deceiving ourselves.

“This tax matter will not unite Nigerians. If we concede to the North that they get more VAT, for doing what? They got federal character for forty years, what have they done with it? They got quota for forty years, what have they done with it? They’re just being spoilt, they don’t want to wake up to the reality that they’re not doing well, they’re not performing. And when you compromise, you kill the South. The energy is being sucked out of the South in trying to remedy and carry the North along. We should be tired of carrying them along, in all honesty. Somebody has to call their bluff. There’s no alternative to the South calling the bluff of the North.”