Apparently taking their final stand on 2015, six
northern groups, including Northern Elders’
Forum (NEF), Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF)
and Northern Union (NU) yesterday said the
region would not vote for President Goodluck
Jonathan if he decides to re-contest.
The other groups are Arewa Reawakening Forum
(ARF), Arewa Research and Development Project
(ARDP) and Code Group (CG). Addressing
journalists yesterday in Kaduna on the State of the
Nation, spokesman of NEF, Prof Ango Abdullahi,
who spoke for all the groups, noted that the
decision not to vote for Jonathan was due to
disregard for rotatory presidency between the
North and South under the ruling Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) after the death of
President Umar Yar’Adua.
Prof Abdullahi, who was the Vice Chancellor,
Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, said the
region would no longer allow power to slip off its
hands from the next election, regretting that the
North was betrayed by those who signed the
rotational agreement for power shift.
He mentioned former president Olusegun
Obasanjo and President Jonathan as the arrow-
heads that refused to obey the rotational and
zoning agreements, stressing that once power
returns to the North in 2015, it will remain there
as long as the people want.
His words: “We are now saying that since there is
no consideration on morality and so on, the North
is going to insist that the Presidency will come to
the region whether on the basis of rotation or on
the basis of voting power, and we have the voting
power to make sure that power comes back to the
North.
“It is not correct to say that North is not as
assertive as people think on 2015 presidency, you
know here in the North, we have certain traditions
that are sometimes misread as wickedness. The
fact that we don’t come out shouting in abusive
language and so on, does not mean that we don’t
have deep-rooted concern for ourselves. This is
not true.
[color=red]“All of us here are members of the ACF, and if you
look at other parts of the country that are making
noise, they are small enclaves, perhaps, may not
be bigger than Kaduna State. Looking at the
history of diversity and our style of governance,
make us to behave slightly different from the
others.
“But I want to make it absolutely clear to you that
ACF and all these other groups that have emerged
in the recent past, we are all talking about the
same thing. We are committed to northern
interest, there is no question about it. If you
haven’t heard the succession clearly loud enough,
that the North is determined and it insisted and it
be insisted and firm that the leadership of the
country will rotate to North in 2015, I am making
that very clear to you on behalf of all of us, ACF in
front because they have been the oldest group,
the Middle Belt group had been very active and
strong and all of us are likely to have this very firm
common agenda.
“It is not that the North is hungry and power-blind,
no, it will be argued on the basis of the national
arguments that are on ground today, the North on
the basis of one man, one vote can keep power
indefinitely in the present Nigerian state. If it is
democracy on the basis of one man one vote, the
demography shows that the North can keep
power for as long as it wants because it will
always win elections, but on the basis of usual
sacrifices that Northerners do make in the cause
of the life history of this country, some of us who
participated in the constitutional conferences
from 1987 up to the last one, political reform
conference.
“Accepted that every part of this country should
feel part of the leadership, and this is the basis of
acceptance of rotation of power between the
North and the South which was what happened in
the constitution conference I attended, many of us
attended. This is the basis of the rotation between
the North and the South, there was no question of
geo-political zones. The geo-political zones were
latter introduction.
“The argument at that time by the government in
power was that the rotation was too much to put
in the constitution, but it should be something that
the party can put in its constitution. The
agreement was that the President should do four
years and rotate it to another zone for another
four years. But when it was time to rotate, the
then President Obasanjo begged the North to
allow him do eight years before the power could
shift to the North.
“All of us were present, we all agreed with him. He
was the first person to sign the agreement, not
knowing that he had third term agenda in mind.
Jonathan who was then the deputy governor,
representing the Governor of Bayelsa State, was in
that meeting, and he signed as number 37, you
can find the document.
“So, you see that we agreed that the south should
have eight years, and then the North should have
eight. Eventually, when Obasanjo having seen a
lacuna somewhere, he tried to abandon the
zoning as well as the constitution to seek for
Third term, and of course, eventually it failed.
“He thought, with due respect, that we will allow
him without resistance to hand-pick a successor,
he handpicked my younger brother, Umar Musa
Yar’Adua, o kay, the condition has been satisfied,
we had a northerner as president and so on. But
Umar fell ill, and he died two and half years into
his first tenure. So, it will make a lot of sense to
accept the constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria which says that for whatever reason if the
President is not there, the Vice President will take
over power. This was why Jonathan being his Vice
President, took over the Presidency.
“We thought that on moral ground at the end of
that four years, the North should take over. If it
didn’t have eight years because of the transition,
at least, it should have six years. but they said no,
no, and I don’t want to go into how this no
translated into yes because it might be the fault of
northerners as far as I am concerned to have
allowed this.
“They allowed it, but it was their turn, and
Jonathan came in, and I thought that on moral
ground, he should have given the North the
chance. But some of them that signed the
agreement publicly denied it. Obasanjo said he
did not know about rotation, Jonathan himself
said he did not know about rotation despite all the
facts. Go to Chief Audu Ogbeh, he will give you the
full story that this thing happened. The issue is
that recently, we are now hearing from one of the
governors, that there is a secret arrangement to
allow Jonathan have another four years. It was
revealed by the Governor of Niger State, Muazu
Babangida Aliyu.
“It makes you think that how can leaders be
transparent if they cannot honour simple
agreement whether written or unwritten. This is
the hallmark of decent leadership, believe and
honour agreement. So, first, there was an
agreement for this kind of rotation, and there is
immorality in the movement of people not to
really hand over this time to us,” Prof. Abdullahi
said.