Murtala Mohammed Garba (Gamji) is the National leader of the Northern Nigerian Youth Leadership Forum (NNYLF). The forum recently erected billboards in Abuja in support of the administration of President Bola Tinubu. In this interview with Johnchuk ONUAYIM, the immediate past President of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), talks about why the forum is supporting and promoting Tinubu’s administration, among other issues.

Looking at Abuja today, we can see big billboards of Mr. President being erected by the Organization, have you started campaigning for the reelection of the President?

Not really, this is not campaign, but you can see we put it there, the Northern Nigeria Youth Leaders Forum commends the efforts of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his interventions in northern Nigeria, in terms of agriculture, security, education and infrastructure. For instance, from Sokoto to Badagry and the achievements in security, as you can see, we are gaining a lot of achievements in terms of agriculture. There is no longer food crisis and food insecurity and all such things, those are the things we are commending Mr. President for, even as we challenge him to do more.

Also, with the support of our Grand Patron, Governor Ubah Sani of Kaduna State, we are trying to organize a programme, calling all the ethnic and youth organizations and all the religious organizations in Northern Nigeria to come and do this programme in the month of October here in Abuja.

What is the strength of the NNYLF?

The strength of Northern Nigeria Youth Leaders Forum is huge; it is one of the biggest and most effective youth organizations in the country, due to our number and our outreach. We say we are the strongest because it is not only for indigene of the region, but whosoever is living in Northern Nigeria. For instance, if you are from Enugu State but live in Kaduna, you are with us because all what is good for the North is also good for South-East, South-South and the South-West and you will also benefit, because you also pay your dues as a citizen of Nigeria, you are also adding value to Northern Nigeria. So, what we mean is that all the organizations are involved, all the ethnic nationalities that are based in Northern Nigeria, we are coming to Abuja to commend Mr. President and above all to endorse Mr. President for a second term because we believe in the unity of Nigeria, we believe in his administration, we believe in all the Service Chiefs and the security they are bringing on board.

For instance, the National Security Adviser (NSA) to Mr. President, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, we work hand in hand with his office in whatever we do. We so also work hand in hand with the office of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen, Christopher Musa for what they are doing and the people are commending them. You can see now, I am from the North-East and we can take off from here to Bauchi, Gombe and down to Adamawa, Mubi. From here you can go to Benue and to Kaduna without any fear of any criminal. Now the top criminals are being taken out. You are a journalist; you can even tell us better.

Don’t also forget the Student Loan Scheme; he has given a lot of us the opportunity to access education. You can remember that the North I am sorry to say we are economically disadvantaged, but now our children are going to school, we are the most beneficiaries in terms of the Student Loan Scheme, from Maiduguri to Sokoto, from Taraba to Ilorin and Kaduna including the FCT, so that is our aim and objective of making this programme.

Now let me take this issue. You are a Northerner but some people from the region don’t believe that the President has done anything for the North and they are pushing to form the ADC coalition to push Mr. President out in 2027, what do you say to that?

You know that is politics and everybody has his own interest as you can see. In this his first term, Tinubu as a patriot and democrat, he has always moved with the North and all Nigerians and even he knows that it is not everybody that must support him. Even in the South-West, there are people who will still vote against him. But we are telling everybody that the majority of people from the Northern Nigeria, especially the youths are with Asiwaju and we will continue to sensitize and create awareness for those that don’t understand about the coalition.

We don’t see it as coalition, but confusion because all those people that are claiming to collate, what are they collating for? Are they trying to brainwash us again? Is the former governor of Kaduna or the former Senate President or the former governors of Osun and Rivers states that we don’t know? All these are people that are trying to survive by all means, they are desperate politicians. We are matured enough to separate desperate politicians and pure democrats and Tinubu is a pure democrat and all the people working with him are pure democrats. So, the people who are against Tinubu in the North are in the minority, even in Lagos there are people that are not with him, but he won and this time around, there are no opposition, we can only have desperate people like them. Mr. President will come back and we will support him to come and finish his second tenure successfully and we pray for him. We the leaders of the Northern youths are working hand in hand with the youths from the South-East, South-West and South-South; we are all working together to ensure that we achieve our aim as young people. Anything about tribalism, regionalism and ethnicity, we are above it. What we want is security and food. Poverty doesn’t have boundary, it doesn’t know religion or tribe, all what we want is for the President to achieve, let him achieve his Renewed Hope Agenda and get it right for us as Nigerians.

But there are still many Nigerians who believe that the way the economy is going, with too many taxes since this government came in, what is your view because many Nigerians are now struggling to even put food on their table. What is your view on this?

You know, when someone is desperate, we call them desperate politicians, when someone doesn’t want us as young people to get our due in the country as citizens, they will be creating the atmosphere of fear. They are putting fears in the people. In every economy, there must be taxation and the Tinubu administration is moderating the taxes. Even me initially, I was against the removal of the fuel subsidy but today you can see things are getting fine in that sector. You can see the effort of the Dangote, without the removal of the fuel subsidy, we would not be getting challenges and the competitions we are getting today. By the way about the communication tariff, the President has reduced it, what kind of tax are they talking about?

We have seen the student loan, we are seeing improvement in agriculture, in security, so what else do they want? They are only bringing fear to us. Even the so-called coalition, they called me with my group, they wanted to put fear in us that; ‘we are a Northern group, if we allow Tinubu to come back, we are all finished.’ I told them openly that day and the former governor of Kaduna was there with some House of Reps members and I told them that even though it is Ojukwu that comes back and if he means well, we will vote for him and it has nothing to do to destroy Nigeria, I told them that nobody will come and tell us that this is what is happening.

And about the tax, this is what the President will do as an economist and a democrat and as a leader, is something that he is facing the reality. It is not like the previous system where we were chasing shadows, but this man is chasing the real things, where we have leakages, is where he is fixing and we are getting it. Nobody can tell you that you can compare the prize of food today with what it was two years ago. Now a bag of maize we were buying N80,000 is now N25,000, so a lot of things is coming down, our problem is to get what we can eat and send our children to school. So, by the grace of God, things will get right.

Still on insecurity, many people will not agree with you that the situation is improving, especially in the North. Look at Zamfara, Katsina and Borno. The other day people were massacred while praying in the mosque. Even in the South-East and everywhere across the country, there are cases of insecurity?

Those that will not agree with me, it is either they are ignorant or they are running away from the reality. These things didn’t start now, Tinubu came in and met Nigeria where you cannot move from Kaduna to Abuja, you cannot move from Lokoja to Kaduna, you cannot move from Ebonyi state to Enugu or move from Delta to Anambra. There was a problem because you cannot even sleep in Anambra or open shop in the city of Onitsha, but now with the support he has given each governor and with the kind of economic empowerment he has given to the governors, things are beginning to improve.

I was in Onitsha about three months ago and I was asking them about situations and they told me they are now getting to drive about. Here we in the North, you couldn’t move from Abuja to Kaduna, but now I drive to Kaduna even in the night. Most of the top commanders of Boko Haram and other dangerous groups, they have been arrested, some of them are on the run and now begging to make peace with the government. The issue of security is not something you can arrest instantly, but Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, NSA and Gen. Christophe Musa, Chief of Defence Staff and other security men are trying their best because of the effort and support Mr. President is giving them. So, about security, nobody will come and tell you that there is no improvement.

For instance, in the FCT here, whether you like Wike or not, you cannot deny his effort and commitment to develop the city. There is relative peace here; the level of crime in the city has dropped drastically. Go to Anambra and see what the governor is doing. There is somebody that has been disturbing people in Imo State, one Gentle de Yahoo, he has been arrested. These are signs that we are getting it right and where we were doing training, some people from Imo state, they were very happy and this is what is happening across the nation and gradually Mr. President is addressing the issue of insecurity.

Do you see Mr. Peter Obi as a threat to Tinubu’s reelection bid?

No! Politically, you can’t dispute that an outstanding leader like Peter Obi is politically a threat, but no matter how it is, Tinubu will win, Tinubu can also do whatever Obi would have done, so Obi can never be a threat to him. You can be a threat to a system that is not functioning or somebody that is not democratic or to somebody that doesn’t know what he is doing, but this administration knows what they are doing; and I don’t think there is any individual whether it is Atiku, El-Rufai, Amaechi or former Senate President, David Mark or whoever; nobody is going to be a threat to him because he is passing the message that he is a good pilot, he has taken off smoothly and he will land successfully by the grace of God.

Now let’s look at the APC as a party, the way things are, do you think they could be able to deliver Mr. President in 2027.

I have said it earlier, Nigeria is just like a shirt with sleeves, when you fold one, you will turn to the other to fold it also. So nobody is perfect and Mr. President is trying and whoever will get 65 per cent in the Nigerian system has tried and Tinubu has already gotten over 75 per cent, so we are praying and urging him to continue doing good to all Nigerians and he will get what he wants and we as young people, particularly from Northern Nigeria where we are leading, we will continue to pray for him and support him to finish successfully. We have to pray for him because any reasonable passenger will pray for the pilot to take off and land successfully and we pray that all our leaders irrespective of their party or state should succeed.