From Fred Itua, Abuja
The Coalition of Northern Youth Movement (CNYM) has warned former presidential aspirant, Rabiu Kwankwaso, to be mindful of his comments as they relate to national security.
The group, in a statement, yesterday, said the former Kano State governor is in no position to advise the Federal Government on security issues.
In the statement signed by its President, Talba Isah, the youths said Kwankwaso, who allegedly ‘failed as a governor and minister of defence’, was already leading the incumbent governor of Kano towards the same catastrophic path.
“Given Kwankwaso’s brazen attempt at revisionism, it has become pertinent to remind him that, as Minister of Defence from 2003 to 2007, he initiated the toxic culture of inter-agency rivalry, diversion of arms purchase funds, the relegation of intelligence gathering, ethnicism in the armed forces, and the shielding of extremist groups – all of which later culminated in the security meltdown that threatened Nigeria’s existence,” the statement said.
“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.
“The Coalition of Northern Youth Movement, therefore, finds it irresponsible that Kwankwaso could say that Tinubu lacked the capacity to tackle the insecurity in the country. We find this statement highly reprehensible, especially at a time when Kwankwaso’s puppet, who is serving as a governor in the only state in which his party managed to snatch victory by crooked means, has not been able to provide good governance in the last nine months.
“We are, consequently, informing Kwankwaso that our movement will not hesitate to produce a full dossier on how Kano State, under Kwankwaso and his puppet, Abba Kabir Yusuf, has undermined national security in the last nine months, if he does not begin to take noticeable remedial measures to undo the damage he has done to the country.
“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,” the statement further read.