The Senator Yari National Unity Project for Tinubu 2027 (SYNUP) has dismissed reports that Senator Abdul’aziz Abubakar Yari described Nigerian youths as lazy, insisting that his remarks at the All Progressives Congress (APC) rally in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, were taken out of context.
The group, in a statement issued on Monday by its National Coordinator, Dr Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi, said Yari never mentioned or singled out Nigerian youths during his remarks at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium on Friday, November 6.
It accused sections of the media and social media commentators of deliberately distorting the senator’s comments to create the impression that he had insulted Nigerian youths.
According to the statement, Yari spoke about food availability and the cost of living, acknowledging that Nigerians were facing hunger before making his remarks about work and productivity.
“At no point in that remark did the Senator mention, single out or describe Nigerian youths. To turn a statement on the dignity of work, made by a man who had just acknowledged that hunger exists, into the headline ‘Yari calls youths lazy’ is not reporting; it is spin,” the statement said.
SYNUP urged Nigerians to watch the full video of the rally rather than rely on what it described as misleading interpretations of the senator’s remarks.
While acknowledging the economic difficulties facing households, the group said Yari’s message was that work, enterprise and productivity remained important pathways out of hardship.
To support its position, SYNUP listed several interventions it attributed to the senator, including scholarship programmes, recruitment facilitation and agricultural support for young people.
It said the Senator Abdul’aziz Yari Scholarship Initiative, launched in 2024 and funded by the former Zamfara State governor, had supported 2,055 orphans and indigent students studying at 19 public and private tertiary institutions across the North-West.
Credit: guardian.ng
