THE SUN
Prominent groups in the Northern states are currently at loggerheads over certain policies of the Bola Tinubu administration seen by some as anti-North.
The latest of such policies is the recent move by President Bola Tinubu to relocate some departments of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to Lagos from Abuja, the Federal Capital. The headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has also been moved to Lagos.
Some prominent Northern leaders and groups have mounted a strident campaign against the relocations, even as some others have accused the President of planning to move the federal capital to Lagos, the nation’s former capital.
Two major groups, Arewa Think Tank, as well as the Northern States and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) have kicked against the tough stance of Northern Elders Forum (NEF) over the relocation of key departments of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) from Abuja to Lagos by the federal government.
NEF had rejected the move by the Federal Government saying that it has negative implications for Abuja’s status as the capital city, as well as financial implications for the CBN and the nation.
However, in their separate reactions, the Chief Convener, Arewa Think Tank, Muhammad Alhaji Yakubu, and the Secretary, Northern CAN, Elder Sunday Oibe said there was nothing wrong with relocating federal government offices to Lagos because it is in the interest of the country.
Spokesperson of NEF, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman told Saturday Sun that the forum has been at the forefront of rejecting the proposed movement of key departments of the CBN and the headquarters of FAAN from Abuja to Lagos, stressing that the opposition of the group to the policy was rooted in the potential negative implications for Abuja’s status, as well as the financial implications on the CBN and the nation.
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