THE Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has said the North will not make the same mistake it made by voting for another president in the mould of General Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
Rather, NEF said the region would only vote for a competent president regardless of where he comes from.
Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of the northern leaders of thought held at Arewa House Kaduna on Saturday, the Director of Publicity and Advocacy, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, was emphatic northerners will not vote for just any candidate based on sentiment as it did in the case of Buhari in 2015.
NEF described Buhari’s tenure as a disaster not only for the region but also for the entire country. The Northern elders said Northern and southern politicians have equal rights to vie for the nation’s exalted office in the 2023 presidential race.
He also said that the North would vote for a competent president in 2023 whether from the North or South, adding that the region would go for a competent ‘Nigerian president’ only.
Baba-Ahmed warned that no northern presidential candidate should take the region for granted in the 2023 race, pointing out that the North would not condone what he called “another Buhari mistake.”
He noted that the North was deceived into voting for Buhari believing that the country would be better off.
He lamented that “the reverse was the case today, as the North and the entire country are worse than when Buhari took over in 2015.”
“A northerner and a southerner have equal rights to contest, but northerners should be very careful about who they vote for in 2023.
“No northerner should take us for granted. That’s how we ended up with President Buhari. We don’t want to repeat the same mistake. If you are a northerner, you must be better than all the candidates; for us, that’s the bottom line.
“It’s not enough to be a northerner. You have to be the best. You have to be the best for the North and you have to be the best for the rest of Nigeria.
“We are looking for a Nigerian president. If it comes from the North, fine. But he must be voted for by Nigerians and he must be good and he must be better than all the others. That’s what we are looking for,” he said.
Earlier, the convener of the meeting, Professor Ango Abdullahi, boasted that the North has always been the kingmaker in determining who becomes president.
He was apparently reacting to the statement by the All Progressives Congress (APC) national leader, Bola Tinubu, who said nothing barred him as a kingmaker from aspiring to be a king.
Ango said, “I heard that somebody was saying he is the kingmaker and now wants to be a king. It is not that I want to be seen to be arrogant, but the North has always been the kingmaker.”
Ango, who is also the convener of NEF, admitted that the region was facing serious problems, saying, “we feel we have to converge here in Arewa House to discuss and exchange views and ideas on what to do in order to be out of the quagmire.
As leaders of thought, we can offer something. Today’s meeting is perhaps the first of its kind to see leaders from Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), NEF, dozens of other groups discuss the problems of the region.
“Even though, we are supposed to be resting. We should not be here. My generation has overstayed its welcome or is overstaying its welcome.
“I told myself that the time has come for me to rest. The time has come for the younger ones and our children to take up the challenge. I am 84 years old,” he said.
In a communiqué issued after the meeting with the theme ‘Rebuilding the North’ and read by Professor Danjuma Doknan Decent, NEF said “The current state of insecurity in the North is unprecedented and unacceptable.”
While commending the efforts of the nation’s defence and security forces in rolling back sundry threats that have weakened the Nigerian State and made life almost valueless, the meeting advised Buhari, governors and legislators to revisit and re-prioritize spending on security and address poverty.
The meeting said “the fundamental rights of all political parties to field candidates of their choices, and the right of voters to freely exercise choices over who leads them cannot be compromised.
“Northerners have equal rights to aspire to all offices, but they must raise competence, evidence of personal integrity and commitments to the rule of law above all other considerations.
“Northerners should ignore provocative statements from groups in the South of Nigeria who appear to believe that command democracy in which threats and hate campaigns are their hallmarks or defining elements will work in Nigeria. North should vote for the best leader.”
The forum advised the Federal Government to postpone the planned 2022 national population and housing census in view of the large numbers of displaced Nigerians and the proximity of the exercise to the 2023 elections.