Pan Niger Delta Forum on Thursday lambasted the Northern
Elders Forum over its confession that it regretted that it “got rid” of
then-President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 elections to vote in the
incumbent, Muhammadu Buhari.
PANDEF National Publicity Secretary, Ken Robinson, in an interview
with The PUNCH, said it was too late for the Arewa group to lament its
participation in the election of Buhari as President six years ago.
According to the group led by elder statesman and foremost
Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, the northern elders instructed “child voters,
bandits and killer herdsmen” to “get rid” of Jonathan, who is from Bayelsa
State, South-South Nigeria and elect Buhari, who is from Katsina State,
North-West, Nigeria.
PANDEF was reacting to a confession made by NEF Director of
Publicity and Advocacy, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, on Tuesday that the group
regretted voting Jonathan out of power in 2015 because Buhari has disappointed
millions of Nigerians including members of the All Progressives Congress who
trusted in his leadership prior to the poll six years ago.
Baba-Ahmed had said, “Is there any Nigerian who is not
disappointed in President Buhari including diehard APC people? Is there anybody
who would not tell you he wished President Buhari had done much better?
“We raised huge expectations, we told people, ‘Get rid of
Jonathan, put Buhari there, he would fix corruption, he would fix insecurity,
he would fix the economy’ (but) look at where we are now.
“How can anybody say they are happy with the record of
President Buhari, even the people very close to him would tell you that they
wished he could have done much better and he could have done much better and he
hasn’t.
“So, what we need to do now is to get ready to elect another
President who would go in the opposite direction, a President who has a vision
and a clear idea of what governance involves rather than just being a
President. So, I am disappointed and that is why today, I am actively involved
in trying to see that a new leader emerges in getting Nigerians a new lease of
life.”
In its reaction, the South-South group said, “Is Mr.
Baba-Ahmed just getting to realise the horrible wrong the Buhari presidency has
done to this country?
“Imagine the stupid arrogance, ‘we told people, ‘Get rid of
Jonathan…”. Of course, they must have told the aliens; the killer herders, the
bandits, and the child voters. That’s why Boko Haram-infested Borno State will
produce a greater voter turnout than peaceful Lagos State.
“These same elements have now become their albatross,
kidnapping and killing innocent citizens at will.”
‘Power must shift to
South in 2023’
PANDEF also said the North has been thriving on the
disharmony among some Southern leaders but said that would no longer be the
case now that the 17 Southern governors are speaking with one voice and are
demanding a President from the South in 2023.
The group, unequivocally, said the Presidency must move to
the South in 2023, adding that the north should apologise to Nigerians for the
failures of Buhari six years so far.
“The only thing the North has been thriving on is the
disunity of the South, now they are scared because of the solidarity being
demonstrated by the Southern Governors.
“Let it be known to the deluded and unstable Hakeem
Baba-Ahmed, and his cohorts, that the issue of the Presidency moving to the
South in 2023 is non-negotiable. It is preposterous to even talk of another northern
president in 2023, after eight years of a Northern presidency, a woeful one for
that matter.
“The next President of Nigeria must come from Southern
Nigeria and the person would act in such ways and manners to reflect that he or
she is the President of Nigeria, not the president of a section or an ethnic
group.
“The North should be satisfied with the humongous
appointments, programmes and projects they have appropriated through the
nepotism of the Buhari presidency. And, in fact, should render an unreserved,
apology to the rest of Nigeria for the failure of the Buhari presidency.”
Goodluck Jonathan and
the 2023 permutations
Jonathan, 63, –of the Peoples Democratic Party, was
Nigeria’s Vice-President between 2007 and 2010. The former Bayelsa State governor
assumed position as the President in 2010 after the death of then-President
Umaru Yar’adua, a two-term governor of Katsina State.
Jonathan subsequently contested the 2011 presidential
election and won but lost his reelection in 2015 to Buhari, a former military
head of state between 1983 and 1985.
Though out of Aso Rock, Jonathan has been seen working
closely with the incumbent in his role as Special Envoy of the Economic
Community of West African States.
With the 2023 elections fast approaching and the clamour for
power shift to the South, Jonathan, who has the legal right to one more term as
Nigeria’s President as the constitution permits all eligible Nigerians to be in
office for two terms of eight years, has been receiving entreaties from the APC.
Many APC chieftains have visited him in recent times,
raising the stakes in permutations for the 2023 general elections.
Of late, with the wave of defections swinging in the
direction of the ruling party, the National Secretary, APC Caretaker, and Extra-ordinary
Convention Planning Committee, John Akpanudoedehe, said Jonathan would be given
an opportunity to contest the 2023 presidency on APC platform if he chose to
join the ruling party.
However, the former President has not declared any intention
to contest in the forthcoming election.
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