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A leader of the Arewa Consultative Forum, on Saturday, called on the Federal Government to arrest and prosecute proponents of interim national government.
He said the agitation, in some quarters, to foist interim government on Nigerians, after Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress had been declared President-elect, was the height of unpatriotism for the country.
The chairman, Kwara State chapter of ACF, Dr Mohammed Ghali-Alaaya, who made the call, while addressing journalists at the Annual Weekend Ramadan Lecture of Kwara State Television Authority, which held in Ilorin, on Saturday, insisted that Nigerians chose their preferred candidate among the array of presidential flag-bearers during the general elections.
He therefore wondered why those canvassing an interim government were yet to come to terms with the reality of that choice.
Ghali-Alaaya explained that it was the resolve of stakeholders in the North, particularly governors from the region, for power to shift to the South, since President Muhammadu Buhari, who is from the North, is rounding off his second term of office.
The ACF chairman, who is an associate of the state governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, observed that the call for power shift gathered momentum to allay the fear that the country was on the brink of breaking up, should the Northern region continue to hold on to power.
He maintained that the fact that the President-elect, pulled the majority of his votes from the North, reflected the commitment of the region for power rotation.
Ghali-Alaaya remarked, “The Northern governors, when they spoke, they did so, bearing in mind that, the trouble and expectation of this country is so clear; that governance must shift from the North to the South. That is not far-fetched. There have been insinuations that Nigeria will break up and everybody is afraid in the country.
“That decision (power shift) was made purely on a very good platform. They (governors) had a very good intention and everybody fell in love with that decision. We have seen that since 2019, and you can see the preparation of the people, including those in the diaspora. Every stakeholder in this country wanted the governance to shift from the North to the South, so that, this country will remain.
“It is very fortunate that in the beginning of the elections, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu won in the primary. It is marvellous and a clean slate which was unexpected. I think everybody should be convinced that when the real election came, this man (Tinubu) won convincingly, and most of the votes he garnered were even from the North.
“It is very surprising that anybody will contest elections and win in other regions other than his own, to that extent, so comfortably.
“Nigerians have spoken, and we have done so loudly. It is so sad for anybody now to say that anyway, anybody, however highly placed found advocating or supporting any interim government in any guise will be met with very stiff opposition. Anybody who does that should be arrested and prosecuted for treason because this is the height of unpatrotism for the country,” the ACF leader advised.
