The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) has accused the Lagos State government of overlooking Northerners in the distribution of palliatives.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had announced palliative measures to cushion the effect of the lockdown amid the coronavirus crisis.
Yerima Shettima, AYCF National President, in a statement on Tuesday, lamented that the Arewa community in Lagos was being neglected.
Noting that the situation was unacceptable, he reminded the government that the palliative is not a gift but a right of residents regardless of their ethnic background.
“COVID-19 is a global problem and anywhere there is lockdown the authorities come forward with food and other essentials for the people of the communities where the pandemic is infecting and killing people”, he stated.
“We are appalled that the Lagos State Government has neither offered the palliative to the Arewa community nor made any official announcement about its plans for the Arewa community.
“We wish to remind the Lagos State Government that it would be doing no special favour for the Arewa community by giving them what rightly belongs to them. All relevant laws are here to confirm the difference between pandemic palliatives and favours by a government.
“It is uncivilized, unthinkable and unacceptable for the Lagos State Government to abandon the Arewa community in this crucial hour of need. There is a pandemic and there’s the attendant lockdown for which no reasonable government will fold its arms and watch citizens in avoidable suffering.
“We, at the AYCF, say no to this open selective patronage in One Nigeria. A skewed process that takes the suffering of a section of its citizens as less important than that of other citizens stands condemnable by all Nigerian men and women of conscience.”