The consensus committee set up by the Northern Political Leaders Forum has ruled out either former head of state, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (retd.) or Kwara State Governor, Dr. Bukola Saraki, as the choice aspirant of the North.



Investigations by THE PUNCH on Saturday in Abuja showed that the decision of the committee was one of the outcomes of its consultations with stakeholders in the region in the past few weeks.



The NPLF had last month set up a 17-man committee to pick a consensus aspirant out of the four contenders for the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party –Babangida; Saraki; ex-vice- president Atiku Abubakar and former National Security Adviser, Gen. Aliyu Gusau (retd.).



THE PUNCH gathered that the committee was still considering whether to pick former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar or ex-National Adviser on Security, Gen. Aliyu Gusau.



Besides Babangida and Saraki, it was learnt that the committee also foreclosed the possibility of fielding any Northern minority as the consensus aspirant of the region.



Investigations, however, showed that the committee had stepped up efforts at producing a consensus aspirant early this month.



A member of the committee, who pleaded anonymity, said, “After consultations with emirs and other stakeholders in the North, we discovered that Babangida would be a hard sell.


“He is being haunted by his past, particularly the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election. We were advised by those we met that we should look for an aspirant that would commend nationwide acceptance.”



It was also learnt that the committee was bitter that Babangida, who was adopted by National Democratic Party on Thursday, had demonstrated his lack of faith in the consensus arrangement.



“While we have not concluded the consensus arrangement, the former president has started making moves to contest on the platform of All Nigeria Peoples Party,” the committee member said.



Investigations also showed Saraki was not being considered because he was from a minority ethnic group in the North.



“From our consultations with Northern stakeholders, our consensus aspirant must come from the core North. That rules out aspirants from the Middle Belt,” the committee member said.



When contacted, the chairman of the committee, Mallam Adamu Ciroma, told our correspondent on the telephone that the issue was still at the preliminary stage.



Denying that the group had picked an aspirant, he said, “We are at the preliminaries. We are still consulting.”



But as the committee was intensifying efforts to produce a consensus aspirant, President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday said he was confident of emerging victorious in the PDP’s presidential primaries.



The Head of Media and Publicity, Goodluck/Sambo Campaign Organisation, Mr. Sully Abu, in an interview with one of our correspondents, said, “We are very much prepared and will drub anyone, including any candidate a gang-up throws up.”



Abu stated that the consensus arrangement would not yield any positive result, adding that the President was not intimidated.



Meanwhile, Saraki has given a condition for the sustenance of unity in the PDP. Saraki spoke in an interview with journalists in Ilorin on Saturday, after the local government election in Kwara State.



He noted that the party would remain intact after its presidential primaries “if there is a level playing ground for all the aspirants.”



The governor was reacting to a question on fears that there might be a split in the PDP after the primaries.



He explained that denying any of the contestants a fair chance in the primaries would cause a crisis.



He, however, expressed the hope that the PDP would not experience any division “because the party now appreciates internal democracy and transparent elections.”



Saraki said it was important for the PDP to provide all its presidential aspirants a level playing ground to contest the primaries.



He, however, said, “I have confidence in the ability of the leadership of the party to conduct crisis-free primaries because I believe there are capable hands at the helm of affairs of the party.”



Answering a question on his inability to speak Hausa, in spite of his claim to being a core Northerner, he said, “My candidature is about what I am bringing to the table, not about the language I speak or which one I don’t speak.”

it just shows that the middle-belt leaders are northerner wannabes . the middle-belt youths want to break this leasehold the northern nigeria has on them!!!

the main northerners do not accept the middlebelt as northerners, they only use them to win votes in nigeria in the pretence of one north.