Society Gists

*Says North West Deserves Compensation, Senate Presidency

A pan-Nigeria advocacy group, Greater Nigerian Youths Movement (GNYM), has warned that if the current political actors did not desist from playing politics of religion and ethnicity, it might ultimately be the nation’s undoing.

The group, in a statement by its Chairman, Lukman Olorunloseyi and Secretary, Mohammed Wakil Abubakar, however, noted that the north west deserved compensation for its role in the victory of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and therefore should be conceded the office of the senate president in the 10th National Assembly.

Speaking against the current jostle for the leadership of the 10th National Assembly, the group, while warning that religion and ethnicity had dealt the nation a huge blow over the years and constituting themselves as needless fault lines, the election of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has effectively taken care of religion politics, adding also that going forward, it should never have a spot in the annals of the nation’s body polity.

According to GNYM, “No serious nation plays up religion as much as we do in all things and we have seen over time, the devastating effect of religion in many spheres of our lives, the political terrain inclusive. But we have come of age and should begin to see that these things divide us more than they unite us.

“There are people who feast on religion and ethnic factors, in fact, it is a booming industry: playing up religion at every turn. This is why Asiwaju deserves commendation, because he dared it and defeated it. We should, therefore, not go back to it again under whatever guise. It is goodbye to that cancer in our collective life.”

Addressing the issue of the senate presidency, the group said people should not be emotional about what should be based on contribution, noting that politics is an investment, which requires equity from every stakeholder and that whatever you put in would automatically determine what you get.

“The North West can conveniently boast of serving the victory of the APC and the president-elect. They put in their everything and today, there are discussions on whether or not they deserve the senate presidency? That debate should not have come up in the first place.

“The north west deserves, not just to be compensated but to be given the office of the president of the senate. It is not a concession; they earned it, otherwise, we might be rewarding rebellion and bad behaviour if it goes elsewhere and we would have discouraged the north west from trusting us ever again,” the group stated.