The Arewa Youths Forum (AYF) has called for the suspension of former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida from the National Council of State following their much publicised verbal war.
In a communiqué issued yesterday in Kaduna and signed by its national president, Gambo Ibrahim Gujungu, the group called on the Federal Government to effect their immediate suspension for what it described as acts unbecoming of elder statesmen.
The communiqué reads “The nation and the entire world, heard and followed with shame and lose of statesmanship of the duo of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, both former leaders of the country who exhibited highest insensitive tantrum unexpected of past leaders.
‘‘They threw to the mud, supposed morality, decorum and sensibilities of their being past military president and democratic president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and also consciously and unconsciously threw invectives at one another, without any sense of shame and abuse of the highest and exalted office in the land.
‘‘Last week’s mudslinging between the two former leaders was a national shame and disgrace, it is also an abuse of Nigerian leadership because it dented the image of our country and again, it has confirmed assertions that wholesomely, their 19 years as Nigeria’s helmsmen was nothing but a retrogression of Nigeria as a country.
The group Maintained their position that the two former presidents should be suspended from the National Council of State, and advocated through the communique that “they should be suspended with the understanding that the NCS is a well respected national advisory council that advises the President in the exercise of his powers with respect to most national issues.
“The Federal Government should set up a high powered committee to investigate their about 19 years leadership of the country with a view to unravelling the level of economic loses and image battering the nation received because of their actions, since their feud was on the way and manner they managed the country’s affairs.