LAST Saturday, about 10,000
northerners congregated at Asaba,
the Delta State Capital as
representatives of about 10 million
northerners living in the 17 states of
Southern Nigeria on the banner of
the Arewa Initiative for Peaceful Co-
existence in Southern Nigeria
(AIPCN).
Co-ordinated by Alhaji Musa Saidu
with Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, former
governor of Sokoto State, as grand
patron, the northerners said they
gathered in solidarity and
endorsement of President Goodluck
Jonathan’s re-election on the
platform of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP).
Held at the Cenotaph, GRA, Asaba,
at the event were President Goodluck
Jonathan, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu (PDP
national chairman), Governor
Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State,
Senator Ahmadu Ali and Senator
Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta PDP
governorship candidate) among
others.
Attahiru Bafarawa
Attahiru Bafarawa
Speaking at the ceremony, President
Jonathan said if re-elected, he would
implement policies that would end
discrimination so that all Nigerians
will be free to live in any part of the
country in peace.
He said that it is sad that many
Nigerians who can afford it go to
America to deliver their babies so
that the child will be an American
citizen, yet in Nigeria, we
discriminate against ourselves.
Lamenting that some politicians
whose children are abroad are trying
‘’to divide us with ethnicity and
hatred and want to precipitate crisis
so that our children will die,’’ he
urged Nigerians to support whoever
is leading the country ‘’because
there is no president that can rule
this country without the support of
all Nigerians or you won’t enjoy the
office. If we compartmentalise
Nigeria, then we have destroyed
what God has given to us.’’
Why I founded AIPCN –Bafarawa
Asked why he is mobilising
northerners living in southern
Nigeria, Bafarawa said he is not
happy with the way non-indigenes
are denied certain rights in the
country.
AIPCN is important because of the
way and manner our people in the
South find themselves. Also
southerners in the North find
themselves in the same problem. We
have almost 10 million northerners
residing in the17 southern states.
Some of them were born here and
even their parents were born here.
They were brought up here. They
cannot go back to the North because
this is their home base.
‘’Unfortunately, they have no place
they can call their own. They are
always non-indigenes. They are not
benefiting anything from their
indigenous state and here people
see them as non-indigenes. As far as
these people are concerned, they
don’t have anywhere in the North to
stay.
Some of them who were born in the
South-West speak Yoruba language
such that you cannot differentiate
them from the Yoruba. So also some
who were born in the South-East
speak Igbo. Unfortunately, getting
admission into government schools
is difficult. They have to go to
private schools. They are not getting
any patronage from the states they
are residing and they are Nigerians.
If they come together, at least if
there is any problem you can talk to
the leadership. During election
period you see people being killed
in the North and in the South
because there is no leadership. That
was the reason we decided to come
up with this initiative for peace,
development and sensitisation of our
people so that they can fight and
get their rights.’’
North will re-elect Jonathan
On why the Arewa Initiative
endorsed President Jonathan, he
said: ‘’All the people saying
Jonathan doesn’t have support in
the north are not been fair to
northerners. Most of you reside in
Lagos and so you only read these
from the papers. As we know, the
APC are more in the papers than
they are on ground. Go to the North
and meet the average northerner on
the streets to know their pulse
about Jonathan. If you want to know
whether Jonathan is actually on
ground, go to the different northern
states to do some personal
assessments, not by reading
newspapers. Go to the various states
and see that Jonathan has the
support of the people. In every
northern state, there is no where he
hasn’t contributed to the
development of the state. So, what
is the reason to say northerners
don’t like Jonathan?’’
The Co-ordinator of the AIPCN, Alhaji
Musa Saidu shared Bafarawa’s views
and listed the series of projects that
president has done in the North as
the reason northerners will stand
with him at the March 28
presidential polls.
Saidu said: ‘’If we say that
northerners are happy with
President Goodluck Jonathan, we are
merely stating the obvious. We are
happy that he has done for the
North much more than any other
president has done. From our
findings, he has even executed for
the North many more projects than
he has done for his people in the
South, especially the South-South.
This is why we are mobilising our
people across all parts of the North
and all northerners resident in all
parts of the South, to ensure that he
secures a second term.
‘’The list of his achievements for the
North looks endless. For instance, in
education, the once abandoned
Almajiri boys can now go to school
as President Jonathan initiated and
established the Almajiri System of
Education, the first of its kind, with
over 150 special schools already
built across the northern states,
while others are nearing completion.
‘’Also, out of the 12 new universities
established by President Jonathan,
nine are located in the northern
states thereby ensuring that all
states of the region have a federal
university. This is in addition to
establishment of new secondary
schools and training of teachers for
better quality education in the
North.
‘’Recognizing that agriculture is the
mainstay of the northern economy,
President Jonathan ensured that out
of the 2.7 million direct farm jobs
achieved by this administration, over
two million are in the North. He also
established the e-wallet system,
which eliminated the corruption in
the distribution of fertilizer and
other farm inputs thereby making
the products directly accessible to
millions of farmers in the region and
this has boosted their productivity.
Today our silos are brimming and
food pyramids are returning in the
North. ‘’In the last four years,
President Jonathan has committed
enormous resources in tackling
desertification in the region. This
administration established more
than 80 kilometre 15-row Green Belt
in addition to the Presidential
Initiative on Afforestation in Kano
and 10 other northern states. ‘’The
revitalization of the railways by the
Jonathan administration has
connected major cities in the North
to the extent that very soon, it will
become easy for Nigerians to live in
states in the North and still work in
Abuja as the Abuja-Kaduna standard
gauge rail is expected to become
operational in the first quarter of
2015.
‘’Today, the Minna-Kaduna-Zaria-
Kano narrow gauge has been
rehabilitated. The Makurdi-Lafia-
Kuru-Bauchi-Gombe-Ashaka-
Maiduguri and the branch line from
Kafanchan to Kaduna are at
completion stages and will be
operational soon.
‘’On roads, the decades long
intractable Kano-Maiduguri highway
that is the longest stretch in the
country is being successfully tackled.
The Abuja-Lokoja road, a huge death
trap that has witnessed uncountable
number of accidents is now a delight
for road travellers…
‘’The fight against insurgency has
been fought and is being won.
Jonathan has shown that he is a
friend to the North. All we can do is
to support him to return to office
and continue with the unusual
transformation projects and
programmes.’’
www.vanguardngr.com/2015/03/2015-why-north-will-vote-for-jonathan-bafarawa-saidu/