By Sani Idris

Sequel to the publication by the Arewa Concerned Civil Society Organisations of Nigerian (ACCSON) on making a firm stand on advocating for president from the South East, the leadership of the group frowns heavily at the president of Arewa Consultative Youth Forum, who said that "It is too late for the 2023 Presidency to be zoned to the South East".

The Spokesperson of ACCSON, Comrade Abdulsalam Mohammed Kazeem, in a statement issued to pressmen on Sartuday in Kaduna, said the statement made by the president of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, was solely for himself, describing it as reckless and devoid of reason.

"The attention of ACCSON has been drawn to a statement purportedly credited to one Alhaji Yerima Shettima, we consider the said statement as a reckless one devoid of reason, empathy and fairness.

"It is indecorous and even outrightly provocative and inciting in nature. We strongly believe that no genuine democrat with sincere national interest and who cherishes the spirit of unity and corporate existence of Nigeria will utter such insensitive comments at this critical political time in our country.

Kazeem noted that the said statement by Alhaji Yerima Shettima does not in any way represent the recent position of ACCSON umbrella youth coalition.

"ACCSON's firm stand on Presidency of Nigeria in 2023 to be specifically zoned to the South East geo-political zone, is in the interest of political equity and fairness. We openly made this declaration recently during the inauguration of our group at the Arewa House in kaduna.

"In that light, the statement by Shettima stands condemned in it's totality by our group, ACCSON, and we expect Nigerians and particularly the media to treat the statement purely as the personal opinion of Yerima Shettima, a former youth activist from our northern region.

"The basis of our position on the said statement credited to Shettima is that the Nigerian National Youth Policy (2009) described a youth as a person between the ages of 15 to 35 years-old, African Youth Charter defines a youth as somebody within the age brackets of 15 to 35 years-old and the United Nations categorized such person as one who is between 15 to 24 years-old respectively.

"Therefore, going by his definitions, he is not a youth and can not be classified as one. He is far above the age of 35 years, and as such, his statement remain a personal one and not that of the Arewa Youths.

Kazeem stressed that ACCSON's calling for rotational presidency among the six geo political zones of the country was as a result North's peculiar regional experiences.

"Both past and present crop of elected and appointed leaders from within our region have failed us completely. They have failed to meet up with the expectations of our people, and have continued to betray our trust, confidence and respect for them.

"From 1999 to date (which is 22 years now), the North West and North East Zones have produced president, Vice president, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senate Presidents, and Speakers of the House of Representatives.

"The North Central Zone alone has produced two Senate Presidents in 12 years; a Deputy Senate president and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

"Our three zones of the northern region, in total, have produced more Ministers, Services Chiefs and Heads of Governments Agencies more than any other region, yet there is nothing on ground to show for it. They only leverage on our population advantage, which though is an added advantage in a democratic setting.

"The said population is only useful to our region during electioneering period. The major benefit of a population advantage in economics is that it remains attractive to both the multi- national and trans-national companies that would want to site industries in such location in other to maximize their market and get very cheap labour.

"Our northern region today has been reduced to a human abattoir, to say the least, where all our communities have been converted to a mass grave due to the failure of government at all levels.

"Between October 2021 till date, over 150 citizens of northern extraction have been murdered by terrorists in Sokoto state alone, not to talk of Zamfara, Kebbi, Kaduna, Katsina, Niger, Benue, Borno and Yobe States. Despite the claims by government that terrorism and violent insurgency is aggressively being fought, the north has remained a killing field.

"Our country is about the highest importer of Arms and Ammunition in Africa and our region is seemingly the poverty capital of Nigeria, yet our people occupied and are still occupying the most sensitive positions in government from 1999 till Date.

"We are not sycophants of government, but we are patriotic northerners too, with history of respect for constituted authority and for our elders.

"It is therefore the position of our northern umbrella youths coalition, ACCSON, that since our people in leadership positions in Nigeria can not bring development, peace, progress and prosperity to our region, let us try people of other region, particularly the region or geo-political zone that has not produced a President or Vice president of Nigeria in other to further promote fairness, equity, unity or oneness of the country,"he said.

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UAE writes Aviation Minister over Nigeria’s action against Emirates Airline

bayo wahab

December 11, 2021 3:51 PM

The UAE's minister of Economy urged Sirika to prevail on the NCAA to review its action.

UAE writes Hadi Sirika over NCAA’s action against Emirates Airline.

Following the Federal Government’s withdrawal of Emirates winter schedule in Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has written the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika seeking a review of the action against Emirates Airline.

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The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had on Thursday, December 9, 2021, withdrawn the 21 frequencies earlier approved for Emirates.

The NCAA also reduced the weekly flights of the Dubai-based airline to Abuja from seven to one.

According to the Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Musa Shuaibu Nuhu, the action followed the refusal of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) to grant the three frequencies requested by Air Peace.

As a result of this action, the airline on Friday, December 10, 2021, suspended all its flights to Nigeria indefinitely.

However, in a letter to Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, the UAE’s Minister of Economy and Chairman of the GCAA Board, Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, explained the reason the Air Peace' request was not granted.

Al Marri said the issue that led to the withdrawal of Emirates schedule was an operational one between the Nigeria carrier and Sharjah Airport, adding that the issue had nothing to do with Emirates.

In the letter dated December 10, 2021, the minister urged Sirika to prevail on the NCAA to review its action.

The letter reads: “The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) presents its compliments to the Federal Ministry of Aviation (FMA) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and has the honour to refer to the letter Ref. No. NCAA/DG/AIR/11/16/329 dated 9th December 2021, whereby the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) notified the Country Manager, Emirates Airline (EK) in Nigeria regarding the withdrawal of the ministerial approval granted to that airline with respect to their winter schedule.

“The NCAA further advised EK that this withdrawal becomes effective on Sunday 12th December 2021 and hence, EK “is granted approval to operate only one weekly passenger frequency to Abuja on Thursdays.

“The GCAA has the honour to highlight that such a decision by the NCAA is totally unjustified especially as it has come to our attention that their action is being taken against the background of Air Peace not securing all 3 slots at Sharjah Airport which they desire.

“Air Peace initially operated at Sharjah Airport, shifted to Dubai Airport and then returned to Sharjah Airport. It would be unreasonable for an airline to expect any airport to maintain their slots when they ceased operating at that airport.

“In this regard, we wish to kindly advise you that Sharjah Airport is currently operating at 140% slot capacity, but with goodwill and tremendous effort on their side, this airport was able to accommodate Air Peace with 1 of the 3 slots that this airline requested.

“The GCAA wishes to stress that the action being taken by the NCAA is obviously not in the spirit of the agreed air services arrangements between our two nations. As we are both aware, the relations between our two brotherly countries are vintage in nature, one hallmark being the recent visit of the President of Nigeria to the UAE, which certainly mirrored the status of these positive relations.

“Finally we suggest that Air Peace should consider flying their two other flights to any UAE airport at which there are available slots. As expected, the GCAA will support Air Peace in this activity, where required.

“Your Excellency, your kind support is anticipated so that the NCAA reviews their decision and restores the approval of the Emirates Airline Winter Schedule, as filed. In this regard, we wish to reiterate that this is a purely operational matter between Air Peace and Sharjah Airport and in any case it should have absolutely no implications for Emirates Airline.”

Meanwhile, in a statement announcing the suspension of its flights to Nigeria, the airline said it stands ready to reinstate its services once restrictions are lifted by the Nigerian authorities.

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