Arewa youths Warns Tinubu, threaten protest over CBN, FAAN relocation to Lagos

Arewa youths Warns Tinubu, threaten protest over CBN, FAAN relocation to Lagos The pro-democracy northern organisation, the Joint-Action Nor...

Arewa youths Warns Tinubu, threaten protest over CBN, FAAN relocation to Lagos

The pro-democracy northern organisation, the Joint-Action Northern Youth Associations, has rejected the relocation of key departments of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria to Lagos by the  President Bola Tinubu-led administration.

The association, comprising 16 civil society organisations in the North, such as the Arewa Defence League, Association of Northern Nigeria Students, Arewa Youth for Development and National Unity, Arewa Young Women Rights Advocate Council, Northern Youth in Defence of Democracy, Arewa Radio and Television Commentators, among others, warned against the decision.

According to the coalition, the failure of the President Tinubu-led government to rescind the decision will force them to mobilise the youths across the 19 northern states for mass action against the administration.

The CBN recently announced the relocation of some departments to Lagos, citing congestion at the head office.

Similarly, the Federal Government announced the relocation of FAAN’s headquarters from Abuja to Lagos.

The relocation was officially announced by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, in a memo dated January 15, 2024, and signed by the Managing Director of FAAN, Mrs Olubunmi Kuku.

However, Alhaji Murtala Abubakar, who is the Convener of the Joint-Action Committee of Northern Youth Associations, at a joint press conference held at the Arewa House, Kaduna on Monday,  declared the relocation of the two agencies to Lagos as illegal, null and void.

Abubakar argued that by relocating the two agencies to Lagos, the Federal Government was not only disrespecting the law but creating a sense of alienation and exclusion of northerners.

He said the North would seek all means,  including legal, political as well mass action, to ensure that the government rescinded the decision to move the two agencies to Lagos.

He called on the Federal Government to  prevail on  two agencies to reverse their decisions immediately and “restore the status quo of the CBN and the FAAN headquarters in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.”

“We wish to warm the Federal Government that such actions will not go unchallenged. We will resist them through all available means, including legal, political and civil actions.

“We will not allow any attempt to undermine the status and integrity of Abuja as the Federal Capital and the seat of government.

“We also request the Federal Government to ensure that all federal institutions and agencies are adequately funded and staffed in Abuja.

“We are not against Lagos or any other part of the country but we are against any form of discrimination, dominion and marginalisation of any part of the country,” he said.