They are insisting that the Presidency should return to the North next year after President Goodluck Jonathan would have completed his current term.Chieftains of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF); Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF); Arewa Reawakening Forum (ARF); Arewa Research and Development Project, (ARDP); Northern Union (NU); Middle Belt Forum (MBF); and the Code Group,at a meeting in Kaduna on Friday resolved that it will not be in the interest of the region for Jonathan to be re-elected in 2015.
A source at the meeting said:” We all insisted that the North must produce the President in 2015. The parley was called to discuss the state of the North at a time like this. Though the major issue we wanted to discuss was the security situation of our part of the country today, the various contributors spoke of the need for the North to be politically re-awakened if it is desirous of solving its security problems.
“We observed that the North has never been this divided. We have never been this disorganised. And after examining the reasons for our division, it was discovered that the 2015 presidential ambition of the President is behind the crises in the North, hence, it was resolved that in the interest of the North and the country as a whole, the North should insist on fielding a candidate that will emerge as the next president of the country in 2015.”
Asked what would be the reaction of the region should the ruling party refuse to field a Northerner, the source said it was decided that the North should go all out and ensure that it deploys its numerical strength to produce the next president.
“Our position is very clear on this renewed demand. There was an agreement on rotating the presidency and now, we want to warn that if the parties to the pact fail to adhere to it, the North would use its numerical strength to ensure that power returns to it in 2015. That is the position arrived at the meeting,” the source said.
“The meeting is just the first of many more that will follow. This is not about ACF or NU or the Middle Belt. It is a new, more vibrant mass movement that was not planned but emerged to redirect the North. We are not making the idea public yet because we don’t want it to be hijacked or infiltrated. We will keep it closed until we achieve the level of mobilisation we desire.
“But as I said earlier, chieftains of all leading organisations in the region were part of the discussion in Kaduna and they all endorsed the new direction that will see us insisting on producing the President in 2015. Another reason why we are not out there talking about it yet is the current mood of the nation. We don’t want to be seen as talking politics while the nation burns. But we must talk politics.”
Another source who claimed he was invited but could not attend the meeting said there is nothing new in the outcome of the meeting as the North has never, for once ,abandoned its plan to produce the next president.
“We are just bidding our time. At the right time, those who want to, out of selfishness, drag Nigeria back would be told where the North stands. Not that the North is power- hungry. We are arguing based on the rational agreement that is on the ground today.
“It is morally wrong for President Goodluck Jonathan to contemplate contesting in 2015 since he is aware that such a pact exists. The North is determined and is insistent that the leadership of this country will rotate to it in 2015 and I am making that very, very clear to you.
“The North, on the basis of one man one vote, can keep power indefinitely.Demography shows that the North can keep power as long as it wants because it will always win elections.”
Source: The Nation