The Northern Elders’ Forum on Monday said that the North would not support President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election.
The spokesman for the group, Prof. Ango
Abdullahi, stated this in an interview with one of our correspondents,
while reacting to a statement by the Chairman of the Northern Governors’
Forum, Babangida Aliyu.
Aliyu, had in Minna on Sunday, said the North would negotiate with candidates contesting the 2015 presidential election.
He denied saying only a northerner should emerge as President in 2015.
Abdullahi said, “My part of the North will not support him (Jonathan). The South owe us a moral debt and they should pay.
“They seem to be forgetting the moral
debt they owe us. There is nothing personal against the person of
President Goodluck Jonathan. There is something wrong with the system
that threw him up against equity and justice.”
The NEF spokesman said that people should have the courage to acknowledge equity and justice.
He stated, “The Northern Elders Forum
has no political party. This is something that you should remember. The
various northern groups including the ACF (Arewa Consultative Forum)
have no political party.
“What we have are political interests
and it is on these political interests that we are going to direct our
energies. At the moment our political interest, based on equity and
justice rests with the North.
“When I say we will not support him, it
is not because he is Jonathan or that he is Ijaw. What we are saying is
that we will look at the issues at stake and throw our weight where
there will be equity.”
Abdullahi said that the North had not been treated fairly.
According to him, the NEF has no political party or presidential candidate for now.
The NEF spokesman added that there were
no contradictions in the comments made by Aliyu and his Jigawa State
counterpart, Sule Lamido.
Lamido had in Dutse, the Jigawa State
capital, said that the Peoples Democratic Party presidential ticket was
not a guarantee that Jonathan would win the 2015 poll.
Abdullahi said, “There is no
contradiction in the position of the North. If you read what Babangida
Aliyu said correctly, he said the North will negotiate the Presidency in
2015.
“It does not foreclose the emergence of a
northern candidate. I don’t know in what context (Sule) Lamido spoke
but I know he knows what he is talking about.
“It is a fact that even when a candidate
emerges on the platform of a party there is no guarantee that he will
win the election in a free and fair contest.”
He recalled that the North supported
zoning in 1999. This, he said, was to enable all parts of the country to
have a sense of belonging.
Abdullahi said, “It was the Northern
Elders Forum that supported the election of the President from the
Southern part of the country, first for four years and secondly for
another four years.
“We are not talking as if other parts of
the country have no rights. We ceded our rights and supported their
aspirations, and therefore, what we are saying is that for equity,
fairness and balance, it is about time that there is a payback based on
the kind of system so that people will not misunderstand us.”
The Presidency on Monday said Jonathan
was ready to negotiate with the North and other zones in the country if
he decided to contest the 2015 presidential election.
Special Adviser to the President on
Political Matters, Dr. Ahmed Gulak, said this in an interview with one
of our correspondents.
Gulak spoke in reaction to Aliyu’s comment on Sunday.
The presidential aide said that as far
as Jonathan was concerned, politics was about extension of olive
branches to all stakeholders and building bridges.
He said the President was favourably disposed to negotiating with any bloc or zone in order to move the nation forward.
Gulak said, “Politics is about power; it
is about extending olive branches; it is about consultation and it is
about building bridges.
“President Jonathan is ready and always willing to negotiate with any bloc or zone in order to move the nation forward.
“Politics is about discussing with
stakeholders, all zones, all blocs and all states. He will do this
should he decide to contest in 2015.”
Meanwhile, the ACF on Monday said the north was not insisting on a northern president in 2015.
The National Publicity Secretary of the
ACF, Mr. Anthony Sani, who said this in an interview with one of our
correspondents in Kaduna, said the North, like other regions, would
contest the presidency in 2015.
Sani said that there was nothing wrong
with the statement credited to Aliyu that the region was ready to
negotiate the 2015 poll.
The ACF spokesman said that the zoning formula had been killed and buried by the 2011 elections.
Sani stated, “I think Governor Aliyu
Babangida is not wrong precisely because politics of zoning has been
killed and buried by the results of elections in 2011 when Nigerians
voted against politics of zoning.
“Where that is the case, the North will
be expected to canvass for the presidency like any other sections of the
country. In that case, there is nothing like North insisting on the
presidency, but it will be left for dynamics of democracy to determine.”
The ACF’s spokesman said the South used
annulment of June 12, 1993 election to morally blackmail the North into
accepting zoning.
He stated, “When the time came for the
turn of the North, then suddenly constitutionalism and politics of merit
supplanted zoning. What is more? Nigerians voted against politics of
zoning in 2011.
“As democrats, ACF and northern leaders
accepted the judgment of Nigerians in accordance with democratic tenets
which demand that majority has its say and way while minority only has
its say.
“In proper democracy premised on triple foundation of liberty, justice and common decency, there cannot be insistence.”
Sani blamed the media for reporting that the North wanted power returned to it as a birth right.
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I think the North should just be allowed to rule themselves come 2015. There is nothing binding the North and South except the oil and groundnut so to your tents every body. Let us see who will beg
ReplyDeleteit is very wrong for the northern leaders to utter such statement that they cant negotiate next election. Born to rule notion is still in ur brain, you have fail this time around. It is not your turn yet, go and qeuee.
ReplyDeletethe northerns should start ruling their cattles, as for ruling Nigeria by 2015,it wl not work for them. Unless they dnt want to benefit from d oil any more cos very oil haram wl start
ReplyDeleteHow many are you northern elders?We the masses have the mandate therefore the chose is ours.Northern elders where were you people when boko haramist were finishing us?
ReplyDeleteI am from the so-called South-South, but definitely not a proponent of our leaders coming from any particular zone, we (Nigerians) should be looking for credible leaders irrespective of where they come from. I believe if Nigeria, as it is composed now, should be broken into 36 countries, our problems will still remain, because within the 'new 36' countries there will still be ethnic groups who will want to dominate the other. So, our problem or problems are not - where the President or Governors come from, it has to do with our tribalism and ethnics prejudices.
ReplyDeleteyany plz dnt lie.you are a northe
ReplyDeleterner
Northern Elders Forum (NEF) this forum has never done anything to put an end to this senseless killing in the North. My Spirit bleed when I hard about the killing of Helpless Children in their school.
ReplyDeleteTill date they (NEF) said nothing about that killing,they are only interested in presidency. As many as they are in that Forum Who are supporters of Boko Haram, let the Love Our GOD have for Children raise HIS anger on them all. @@ YANY,, don't be too wise, We are not yet a nation, we will become a nation after our Constitution is Edited for Nigerians.
keep ur votes with the cows vote to urself. North will not smell that seat for now. Let other zones try. Is it only the north that we have in Nigeria. They can break up and form Boko Haram country. Nonsesence.
ReplyDeleteThe thinking of an average southerner is mayopic to say the least. Hear dem, they all forgot the fact dat democracy is abt number.D whole of Niger Delta is not up Katsina state.
ReplyDeleteIt is obvious that the so called elders are even in support of these boko harams, when the northerners was in power for so many years who complained? you are self centered, selfish, heartless, wicked and without the fear of God and if you people continue this way i wonder what you will tell your generations because you people have really sow bad eggs in our land and by the grace of God, God will surely wipe all wicked ones out of the land i.e those who does not want to see the goodness of the land.shekenah
ReplyDeleteI am a southerner besides,I am STRONGLY in support of YANY belief me, GEJ is a good man considering his records but those ugly pies and galloping heads around him we never allow him to go through the right path.
ReplyDeleteA vote for PDP is a waste; PDP must be flushed out otherwise, our children; the next generation would inherit this mess from us and they will never forgive us.