The recent statement by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, that the north should not vote for southern candidates is anti north and anti unity in Nigeria.

The recent statement by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, that the north should not vote for southern candidates is anti north and anti unity in Nigeria. It is a statement that seeks to perpetuate poverty, illiteracy, backwardness and gross underdevelopment in the north. The north has held the north to ransom for too long and need change. If there is any section of the country that needs drastic turnaround; a section that needs new brain to bring real time development and change, it is the north. There is no doubt about this fact. The north needs a turnaround more than any other region.

Any leader who sees nothing wrong with the awful and pathetic state of affairs in the north is not being honest. The underdevelopment in the north was foisted by northern leaders. In other words, the north undeveloped the north. Over the decades, the north has been held down by leaders of northern extraction who presided over Nigeria and saw nothing wrong with the poverty and misery culture. It is time for the north to have a re-think and seek a way out of the underdevelopment and poverty quagmire. It is not by clinging or sticking onto the old attitudes that have failed the people.

The 2023 general elections provide a historic opportunity for the north to seek to change the unenviable narrative. Is it not time for the north to have a paradigm shift? Is it not time to inject a new life into the leadership of the north in a technologically changing world? Is the north going to be left behind again?

Atiku Abubakar reportedly made the unimpressive statement during an interactive session with the northern political leaders under the aegis of Arewa Joint Committee at Arewa House, Kaduna. The group is holding the session with the major presidential candidates, of which Atiku took the first turn.

When asked by the spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, why Northerners should vote for him, the PDP presidential candidate said, “What the average Northerner needs is somebody who’s from the north and also understands that part of the country and has been able to build bridges across the country. “This is what the Northerner needs, it doesn’t need a Yoruba or Igbo candidate, I stand before you as a pan-Nigerian of northern origin,” stated Atiku.

Expectedly, the remark has since gone viral on social media and attracted opprobrium. A former minister of aviation and member of the APC, Femi Fani-Kayode reportedly denounced Atiku and stated: “This is the height of desperation and daredevilry on the part of Atiku! This is so horrendous, so horrible and so thoughtless for Atiku Abubakar to use ethnicity to campaign, saying the north does not need a Yoruba or Ibo candidate. My God! Atiku needs to quit the race.”

Atiku, it would be recalled, enjoyed strong support in 2019 in the South-East and South-South but the emergence of Peter Obi appears to be threatening his party’s stranglehold in the two zones. His chances now clearly depend on improving his support in the north.

And, indeed, it was to play for the northern votes in the light of President Muhammadu Buhari not running again that the main opposition party has jettisoned its zoning policy that would have handed its ticket to a southern aspirant.

Furthermore, Atiku, who was a protagonist of the policy review forced through earlier this year, eventually picked the ticket following last-minute manoeuvres at the national convention by northern power brokers in the party.
With the three northern zones said to have the majority of registered voters, Atiku, who is from Adamawa State in the North-east zone, is gunning to have advantage over his two southern rivals if voters are swayed by primordial sectional sentiments. Primordial ethnic sentiments did not give Muhammadu Buhari the presidency thrice until he was backed by the South-West zone whose candidate, Bola Tinubu of the ruling APC, Atiku is now urging the north not to vote for.


Truth, however, is that Atiku cannot afford to burn his bridge to the South since he as a candidate still needs to garner substantial support from at least four of the country’s six geo-political zones to be elected. But since he has foreclosed the North voting for southern candidates, by principle of reciprocity, he will not expect to have any vote from the south, which forecloses his chance of winning.

So even if Atiku takes all the 19 states in the North, he will still need at least a quarter of the votes in five southern states to meet the requirement for vote spread. That is the reason that his blunder in Kaduna may also hurt him.
Having said that, a glimpse into the anomie in the north shows that the region is the most backward in Nigeria judging from any developmental index. Basing on the three Human Development Indexes (HDI), namely life expectancy, education, and per capita income, it is obvious that virtually all the states in North fall within the low human development index of 0.539 as of 2019.

For instance, while Nigeria’s average HDI is 0.539, virtually all the northern states fall below that average. The states include Borno 0.517, Kaduna 0.516, Taraba 0.506, Adamawa 0.488, Niger 0.488, Kano 0.487, Katsina 0.456 and Bauchi 0.429. Others are Zamfara 0.420, Jigawa 0.415, Gombe 0.412, Yobe 0.368, Sokoto 0.340 and Kebbi 0.339. For the southern states, Lagos has the highest with 0.686, Anambra 0.668, Imo 0.653, Oyo 0.637 and Ebonyi, which is the lowest with 0.575 and that is above Borno with the highest in the north.

On the education front as measured by literacy rate in percentage, Kwara has 49.3, Kano 48.9, Plateau 46.6, Benue 45.1, Nasarawa 41.9, Adamawa 40.5, Gombe 39.3, Niger 37.5, Bauchi 34.1, Zamfara 33.9, Kogi 33.5, Sokoto 30.1, and Kaduna 29.3. Others are Yobe 26.6, Kebbi 25.3, Jigawa State 24.2, Taraba 23.3, Katsina 21.7 and Borno 14.5. For the southern states, Lagos has 92, Osun 80, Anambra 75, Abia 72.5, Rivers 70.5, Enugu 66.5, Imo 53.2, and Ebonyi 53.0, which is the lowest.

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) confirmed that there were no public school students from Sokoto and Zamfara states. The two states presented no candidates in this year’s examinations. How would the region develop with a mass of illiterate citizenry? How do we turn this ugly scenario around other than by having good, progressive and forward-looking and committed leaders at both the federal and state levels?

But that is hardly what Atiku Abubakar is out to achieve, which is like eternally condemning the north to remain backward. If Atiku loves the north, he should strive to bequeath a progressive mindset that fits into the new world order in place of primordial mentality.

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Madness

What is all this
Dear north pls vote wisely

useless thread...

sane people keep off..

please how much is fuel in your area please

God punishment be on APc and their supporters

Thifnubu the enemy of North.

Yoruba Muslim wey dey disguise

So north should leave atiku and vote for Tinubu who use opc to kill and slaughter thousands of innocent Northerners plus sieze their bikes.
Apart from that they should the most competent nigerian politician like obi and vote in a ritualisst who clearly says he is only for yoruba by saying Yoruba lokan, Tinubu who is s drug dealer,Stark illiteratess with oluwale certificate,no origin,sick,dying and can't even express himself.
Tribalism is what is making you type these.except your ubad fake Muslimns,no body will vote for that theiff again..

Tinubu didn't instruct OPC to kill northerners, they went wayward and started attacking northerns.. His intention in conceiving them was pure till they went out of control and then he terminated them

Ironic, you want us to vote PO that killed northerners and burnt their market.. so bro, PO is not an option, stop wasting ur time

Innocentman86:
So north should leave atiku and vote for Tinubu who use opc to kill and slaughter thousands of innocent Northerners plus sieze their bikes.
Apart from that they should the most competent nigerian politician like obi and vote in a ritualisst who clearly says he is only for yoruba by saying Yoruba lokan, Tinubu who is s drug dealer,Stark illiteratess with oluwale certificate,no origin,sick,dying and can't even express himself.
Tribalism is what is making you type these.except your ubad fake Muslimns,no body will vote for that theiff again..

Innocentman86:
So north should leave atiku and vote for Tinubu who use opc to kill and slaughter thousands of innocent Northerners plus sieze their bikes.
Apart from that they should the most competent nigerian politician like obi and vote in a ritualisst who clearly says he is only for yoruba by saying Yoruba lokan, Tinubu who is s drug dealer,Stark illiteratess with oluwale certificate,no origin,sick,dying and can't even express himself.
Tribalism is what is making you type these.except your ubad fake Muslimns,no body will vote for that theiff again..

Lol see the level you had to go just because you hate Tinubu, u fit even behead your parents if they show support for Tinunu

Bro, it's just a suggestion. I'm not putting a gun to anybody's head

We are basically saying the same thing, instead of us to vote blindly because Atiku is a northerner and hausa/fulani.. we should be logical and rational

The cost of living is beyond the control of the government, we all know the situation we found ourselves, in terms of depletion of our reserves by PDP, recession, inflation because of drop of oil in world market etc

I believe Tinubu is the most experienced among all the contestants

fiizznation:
And if I may ask, who are you to tell northerners who to vote for and who not to vote for? That decision should be with the electorates. What happened after northerners voted for buhari? Didn't he disappoint almost every northerner?

What's the cost of living today compared to some years ago? What's the security situation in the North? What's the value of naira when converted to dollars? I believe these questions should shape any decision the northerner will take when he is about to elect a candidate.

Emotions and sentiments will not take anybody anywhere. The problems on ground; who is the best person to tackle them should be considered by people who are affected by these problems.

NaijaRoyalty:
Madness

Says Ipob miscreantttt. You should rather be talking about your ugm.

Meanwhile, OPC have always existed in all Yoruba land since Time memorial before Tinubu. In fact, they don't even like Tinubu sef.

And I will take the Northerners seriously if they said OPC fought with them in the North like their bandits and killer herdsmen are going to other region to cause mayhem. OPC are generally peaceful except you're a nuisance in Yoruba land.

Kagd10:


Says Ipob miscreantttt. You should rather be talking about your ugm.

Meanwhile, OPC have always existed in all Yoruba land since Time memorial before Tinubu. In fact, they don't even like Tinubu sef.

And I will take the Northerners seriously if they said OPC fought with them in the North like their bandits and killer herdsmen are going to other region to cause mayhem. OPC are generally peaceful except you're a nuisance in Yoruba land.

Ekiti man jailed 21 Years for stealing foodstuffs.

Browse am no be me post am

Nyamuri:
Tinubu didn't instruct OPC to kill northerners, they went wayward and started attacking northerns.. His intention in conceiving them was pure till they went out of control and then he terminated them

Ironic, you want us to vote PO that killed northerners and burnt their market.. so bro, PO is not an option, stop wasting ur time

Yoru badd person always speaking from both side of his mouth as usual.
Tinubu didn't instruct them but he heard about it and kept quiet while northerners were burnt alive,they were crying and begging while opc put tire on their neck and burnt them.them later sieze their bike.
Do you know the kind of hate it will take for a man to burn his fellow man.afonjas hates northerners with passion.
My neighbor lost her husband and her family to these opc untill today they didn't see their corpse likely they must have burnt the husband and his 8 brothers alive as usual
Nobody will vote for that ritualisst,drug dealer, okultic old tribalistik sick illiterate.
Obi or atiku is who nigerians are voting for

Nyamuri:
Bro, it's just a suggestion. I'm not putting a gun to anybody's head

We are basically saying the same thing, instead of us to vote blindly because Atiku is a northerner and hausa/fulani.. we should be logical and rational

But I never said I will vote Atiku. Look, the two major contenders should be scrutinized by the voters. The one with the best track records should be voted. Tinubu is a good administrator even though he has some flaws like every human being. Atiku has his own achievements as a former VP even though many people labeled him corrupt.

The North can't afford to make the Buhari mistake trice(though God knows the best). I don't think the region will survive it. We shouldn't allow petty sentiments get the better part of us. Like I usually say; northerners are the biggest losers in Nigeria for the past 10-17years, and this election will either push the north further down or bring some kind of uplifting for the region.

There is still enough time for northerners to know who will best protect their interest and ease the hardship many people are passing through. If is Tinubu that's great, if is Atiku that's okay too.

Nyamuri:
Bro, it's just a suggestion. I'm not putting a gun to anybody's head

We are basically saying the same thing, instead of us to vote blindly because Atiku is a northerner and hausa/fulani.. we should be logical and rational

The cost of living is beyond the control of the government, we all know the situation we found ourselves, in terms of depletion of our reserves by PDP, recession, inflation because of drop of oil in world market etc

I believe Tinubu is the most experienced among all the contestants

Congratulations on your writing prowess and skills!
I believe this is actually what you wanted to hear from your readers because this useless post of yours should be deployed to the bambialas on the various culverts nationwide. And not NL!

let me shock you 99% of Tinubu supporters online especially nairaland are staunch bigots.
they're not supporting Tinubu because they know he's a better candidate but just to spite igbos and Hausas.

check their nairaland usernames and post history and see for yourself.
they never loved this country as they parade themselves but just love spitting other tribes at the expense of the country's growth and development.
Election to them means cruise and avenue to measure dickk
they supported Buhari twice even when they knew his failure is certain.
today they're rinsing and repeating the same thing.

while 95% of Tinubu supporter offline and other social media are there for financial gain and nothing more.
from Nollywood actors to influencers nobody supports Tinubu for the future of this country.
to them others can go to hell for all they care.


dear Nigeria youths it's time to look these people in the face and tell them enough is enough.
suffering knows no tribe.
millions of Nigerians are suffering from buhari they imposed on us twice.
it's time to stop these social media sadists.
be brutal and ruthless in approaching them.
let them cry social media bully.
you're fighting for your future and nothing else.
God bless us and may we get it right.

God bless igbos
God bless real Omoluabis
God bless North
God bless South South
God bless Middle belt

thunder scatter Tinubu urchins

Amen

I laugh each time Apc supporters claims fake love for Nigeria and accuse people of hating Nigeria whereas they're the worst enemy of this country.
Apc supporters love for Nigeria can be best described as the same love you love your Christmas chicken or salah ram.
if you love someone all you'll want for the person is the best but Apc supporters all they've supported and wanted for Nigeria is worst.
they supported the abomination we have today as president not once but twice.
and even in the midst of failure they defended the worst government in the history of humanity till the point they felt like it's time to enthrone another disaster Tinubu.
Today they're fighting tooth and nail to enthrone a monumental disaster and just like the real patriotic Nigerians cried in 2014 when they where trying to enthrone the disaster we have today, today the real lovers of Nigeria are trying to give it the best and revive it, the so called lovers of Nigeria are trying again to enthrone another failure.
no remorse nothing nothing.

So if you're looking for enemies of Nigeria, look no further.
they're not bokoharam, fulani herdsmen, bandits.
they're TINUBU URCHINS.

After chest beating

Your wailing just started.

Nyamuri:
OAM4mJ
Myndm44

Pls take this to front page

See how your fellow almajiris ignored your mentions

Don't kill yourself defending a walking corpse

Or are you looking for a job? Tonyebarcanista that year

Cry louder!

MC oluomo might just notice you

9jahotblog AKA Trinitician come and console your buroda.

Bro, everybody is entitled to his/her opinion, my audience is targeted at my northern brothers that want to vote Atiku solely because his a fellow northern hausa/fulani.. it's not specifically target at you

We all pray Allah ya zaba muna shugaba wanda ze muna alkhairi, but from all indication, from my on prospective, it's Tinubu

Atiku is taking us, the north for granted, just look at the nonsense he went and said in Arewa interactive session!! No policy, manifesto, plans, strategy and blueprint.. at least he should have said something, even if it's a lie!! If he thinks we will just vote him because his a northern hausa/fulani, then his highly delusional and myopic!

Tinubu has been going around and revealing his plans towards the north and I believe his capabilities and capacity, Lagos is a case study

whoever is sincer will know Buhari performed well with the little resources and situation he found himself

fiizznation:
But I never said I will vote Atiku. Look, the two major contenders should be scrutinized by the voters. The one with the best track records should be voted. Tinubu is a good administrator even though he has some flaws like every human being. Atiku has his own achievements as a former VP even though many people labeled him corrupt.

The North can't afford to make the Buhari mistake trice(though God knows the best). I don't think the region will survive it. We shouldn't allow petty sentiments get the better part of us. Like I usually say; northerners are the biggest losers in Nigeria for the past 10-17years, and this election will either push the north further down or bring some kind of uplifting for the region.

There is still enough time for northerners to know who will best protect their interest and ease the hardship many people are passing through. If is Tinubu that's great, if is Atiku that's okay too.

I have just two questions for the writer. Firstly, are the southern states not suffering from the same bad governance and leadership? Secondly, whom among the southern candidates do you want the Northerners to vote for? Your response will tell whether you actually mean well for the Northerners

Didn't u see the topic, who else apart from Tinubu? Pls don't bring PO because his not an option in the north

Great2017:
I have just two questions for the writer. Firstly, are the southern states not suffering from the same bad governance and leadership? Secondly, whom among the southern candidates do you want the Northerners to vote for? Your response will tell whether you actually mean well for the Northerners

So it has now coming to begging by Tinubu urchins?

I thought Tinubu will sweep the whole northern votes?

Hahaha. Tinubu has seen that he can't win the election, he's only trying to protect his base. But he wont win Lagos with high margin and he will be disgraced.

Urchins never see anything.

Aside SW, where will Tinubu get votes?

Nyamuri:
Didn't u see the topic, who else apart from Tinubu? Pls don't bring PO because his not an option in the north

If it is Tinubu you are canvassing for, then, you are pushing for your interest and that of your paymaster.

In 2015, Tinubu chose Buhari for the North despite the Northerners wanted either Kwankwaso or Atiku. How can such a person now mean well for this same North?

Atiku and Obi will serve the interest of the Northerners far better than Tinubu.

Lol so northerners wanted kwankwasso not Buhari!! As in kwankwasso is more popular than Buhari in the north or what!

Pls stop talking about PO.. we don't even discuss him here

Great2017:


If it is Tinubu you are canvassing for, then, you are pushing for your interest and not the interest of the common Northerners.

In 2015, Tinubu chose Buhari for the North despite the Northerners wanted either Kwankwaso or Atiku. How can such a person now mean well for this same North?

Atiku and Obi will serve the interest of the Northerners far better than Tinubu.

Mhen, e be like them dey pay this boys