A prominent Northern youth group, the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, has threatened to ensure that the Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, does not get a second term, if he goes ahead to sack over 22,000 teachers who failed competency test.
The AYCF vowed that it would frustrate efforts by El-Rufai to get re-elected and return to office as the governor of the state in the 2019 general elections, because of his current hard stance on the fate that should befall the affected teachers.
The National President, AYCF, Alhaji Shettima Yerima, told our correspondent in an exclusive chat that Governor El-Rufai was the worst administrator that had ever held the reins of governance in Kaduna since the creation of the state.
Yerima argued that the move by El-rufai to sack the teachers could result in the occurrence of suicide among many citizens of the state, especially those who were their families’ bread winners.
He said, “The man is a disaster; he has always been associating with disaster at the expense of the collective interest of Kaduna citizens.
You can retrain the teachers, if you think they are not good enough for the job
“I think it is high time we began to see what we can do about him. I think, certainly, people like him are not worthy to represent the interest of the people because, often times, he thinks about himself more than what the people feel, and I think, under a democratic government, whatever you want to do, you should think about its effect on the people you govern.
“At any level, you must listen to the people, seek advice, where necessary, before you embark on any action, because some of these attitude and actions portend a lot of danger for the future of Kaduna State and the overall interest of the Northern part of the country, because at this crucial period, you don’t look at how to sack people, talking about those who are employed.”
Yerima, however, advised the Kaduna State governor to consider retraining the teachers, rather than planning to sack them.
“There is nothing wrong in doing what other governors have done. You can retrain the teachers, if you think they are not good enough for the job. But to just wake up when people are already suffering and say you are sacking them, that is wrong. Imagine what will happen to those teachers and their family members that depend on them, if you take such a decision. But you are doing what you are doing because you want to do it. That is not right.”
The AYCF also warned the ruling All Progressives Congress not to hand a second term ticket to El-Rufai, stressing that doing so could cost the party the continued control of the state.
“If APC gives him ticket once again, they can rest assured that they have lost it completely, because he has done a lot of harm than good to the people of Kaduna State and we will, at all cost, resist him,” he said.
