CNG slams OPC, Afenifere over comments on North

By Lateef Taiwo

The Coalition of Northern Groups, CNG has slammed the Oduwa Peoples Congress, OPC and Afenifere over provocative statements to the North, that it said tends to threaten the North against demanding what is due to it from the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Addressing newsmen on sunday in Abuja, CNG’s spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, said the two groups have no right to speak against the North, adding that Tinubu got bulk of his winning votes from the North.

He said, “For the OPC and all other merchants of mindless threats and hate campaigns, we say, the North is neither afraid nor apprehensive of their designs and we will remain resolute in protecting our legacy and inherited responsibility to all northerners.

“The OPC and all those who have no other useful vocation other than attacking northerners under the slightest of pretexts, should know that the North’s reticence in speaking out or taking action is not born of fear or ignorance of how to respond in kind.

“Henceforth, we deem any further attempt at targeting of any northerner, anywhere, for vilification, systematic dehumanization, profiling, alienation or any action that will render them object of attack and persecution, abhorrent to our sensibilities and ordinary decency and therefore unacceptable.

“The North shall henceforth respond to any provocation coin for coin and we dare say: Shege Ka Fasa for those who have ears to hear.”

Suleiman cautioned Tinubu to be wary of the the two groups; OPC and Afenifere, reminding him that the North, particularly the Northwest were instrumental in making him the President-elect.

According to him, “We therefore caution the incoming President to be wary of the way he relates with proliferated regional jingoist associations like OPC and the Afenifere, lest they drag him into an unnecessary misunderstanding with other sections of the country by pretending to be his kith and kin.

“It is no longer news that neither Afenifere nor OPC played any role in bringing about Tinubu’s presidency. What is clear however, is that they both expressly and impliedly opposed his bid for the presidency right from the primary to the secondary stages of the race.”