By Bashir Bello, Abuja
The Arewa Cohesion Initiative (ACI) has called on voters in the North to vote only for candidates with demonstrable capacity to prioritize their welfare and tackle the numerous challenges bedeviling the region.
Speaking on Liberty Radio’s breakfast show monitored in Kaduna on Tuesday, the Director General of the ACI, Dr. Abdullahi Idris, wondered why the North, with the largest voting population in the country, continues to be the poverty capital and the most insecure region.
Dr. Idris therefore called on voters to be “selfish” this time by prioritizing solutions to the region’s challenges such as insecurity, youth unemployment, educational backwardness, the almajiri phenomenon, and poverty in their choice of candidates.
Citing the constitutional provision that the security and welfare of citizens shall be the primary purpose of government, he questioned why most elected officials from the region fail to live up to the oath of their office, resulting in the sorry state the North finds itself in.
The ACI Director General also strongly advocated for good governance, unity and cohesion as prerequisites for finding solutions to the region’s problems and achieving development.
He spoke on other issues affecting the North including drug abuse and misgovernance, calling on leaders in the region to intensify efforts to confront them head-on.
