By Temidayo Akinsuyi

LAGOS-The major ethnic organisations in the country, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Ohanaeze Ndig­bo, Afenifere, Middle Belt Forum and the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), have come together in a common front ahead of the 2023 presidential election.

Daily Independent gathered that the groups, which have been working together to chart a way forward for the nation, may likely any political party or presithrow their weight behind dential candidate that is sin­cere about the restructuring of the country. ­

Even though there have always been divisions and a widening gulf between the North and South on the ag­itation for restructuring of Nigeria, it appears the gap is being closed as the chair­man of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Prof. Ango Abdullahi, earlier this week, said that the North is ready for the restructuring of Ni­geria to make it more viable.

Yinka Odumakin, the Na­tional Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, on Wednesday, confirmed to Daily Indepen­dent that the various ethnic groups had been working together and would contin­ue to do so ahead of the 2023 general elections.

He said: “The groups have been working together and will intensify the harmony in the interest of the badly fractured country towards restructuring.”

When asked if there would be any alternative to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2023 or that Nigeri­ans would be stuck between the two, Odumakin said while both parties were still looming large, other possi­bilities could still spring up between now and 2023 that may change the political con­figuration.

“The two parties still loom large on the horizon, but it does not mean that there are no other possibili­ties that can change the con­figuration dramatically,” he said.

Odumakin also cleared the air on the allegation that Afenifere was sympathetic to the cause of the PDP.

According to him, there is no special deal with the PDP if the APC fields a se­rious candidate that is sin­cere about restructuring the nation.

“If the APC fields a seri­ous candidate on restructur­ing, there is no special deal with the PDP,” he said.

In another development, Odumakin also said that Afenifere had not endorsed Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, na­tional leader of the APC; Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti State governor, or any non-Yoru­ba aspirant for the 2023 pres­idency.

Odumakin, who dis­closed this while speaking to an online platform pro­gramme, ‘The Roundtable’, also claimed that the serving Overseer of the Citadel Glob­al Community Church in La­gos, Pastor Tunde Bakare, a former vice-presidential can­didate, still wants to run for president in 2023.

He, however, added that the group had not given sup­port to anyone.

Bakare, in broadcast in his church, had compared Tinubu to Jephtah in the Bible, saying he fought many battles for the Yoruba and “delivered Lagos State and nearly all the South-West states from the onslaught of the PDP from 1999 to 2007”.

However, mixed reactions trailed the message, as many wondered why Bakare, who once spoke against Tinubu, turned around to praise him.

Reacting to the develop­ment, Odumakin said those who have the cathedral right to express views on the pul­pit should be careful of what they say.

“Those who have the cathedral right to express strong views on the pulpits of God and whose words are taken very seriously by their congregation should be care­ful of what they say to those who listen to them,” he said.

He added: “No, there is no doubt that Asiwaju is a leader in Yorubaland but he is not the leader of the Yoru­ba people. To say Asiwaju has done more for the Yoruba people is debatable. You will not earn our support because you are a Yoruba man but we will ex­amine what you stand for.

“We have not given sup­port to anyone at the mo­ment. We are watching those who are interested in the 2023 presidency, including Fayemi, Tinubu, and even Bakare himself and other non-Yoruba people.

“Where each candidate stands on the issue of re­structuring and federalism will determine who gets our support. Afenifere is not afraid to state our support for any candidate and any party.”

https://www.independent.ng/afenifere-ohanaeze-acf-mid-belt-forum-pandef-join-forces/

THEY ARE ALL TRIBAL SUBSIDIARIES OF PDP

Restructuring Nigeria is a gamble well worth taking. But what is the big deal if this present government actualize it. 2023 is far considering the fragile string still holding Nigeria as an entity.

Nice one. They should all join forces to ensure that an Igbo man is elected as the president. Anything short of that will not be accepted by Nigerians

If Nigerian allow these bigoted, prejudiced, tribalist, and dangerous sociocultural groups who always release inflammatory statements that doesn't fit their ages nor correlate with interest of their people without minding the consequences of their words then Nigeria will be in another cycle of uncertainty & doom years ahead.
I never take these selfish groups serious, who have records of hatred against one tribe or the other, who lost relevance in their constituencies and chose a dangerous platforms to always unleash threats to any leader who isn't from their tribe but romance & depend their sons irrespective of their incompetence all because of greed.

To dislodge APC?

If they want to be fair,they should rally their support round a sincere Igbo man, personally I like Peter Obi, former Anambra State governor to be Nigeria's president,that is our Messiah right now,that is the kind of man that can cut the excesses of the government , build the economy, save for the country etc A presidency under Peter Obi won't tolerate borrowing and will never tolerate using bogus funds to execute small projects, besides he is sound,young,Hale and hearty, presentable, charismatic etc... Please all the igbos should throw support for this man.This is my own opinion..Nigerian must be great
Nb: Before some pipu start calling me ipob,I am a full fledged Yoruba guy

Samson0599:

If they want to be fair,they should rally their support round a sincere Igbo man, personally I like Peter Obi, former Anambra State governor to be Nigeria's president,that is our Messiah right now,that is the kind of man that can cut the excesses of the government , build the economy, save for the country etc A presidency under Peter Obi won't tolerate borrowing and will never tolerate using bogus funds to execute small projects, besides he is sound,young,Hale and hearty, presentable, charismatic etc... Please all the igbos should throw support for this man.This is my own opinion..Nigerian must be great
Nb: Before some pipu start calling me ipob,I am a full fledged Yoruba guy

SOUTH EAST: IS IT NOT TOO LATE?

I have read the recent transmissions by Senator Bukola Saraki directed at my Igbo tribe. I have deliberately kept mum on this as I had earlier resolved to speak less on Igbos as regards the 2019 Elections and 2023 Presidency having said quite a bit. 

However seeing as some of my brethren have swallowed the cheap bait, I will chip this in just to keep the reality before us, at least for posterity sake. Truth is bitter but it's still the best medicine. 

My people say; 'He who does not remember where the rain started beating him, will not remember where it stopped'. 

REWIND TO 2014. 
A new National Party was being conceived. Political Parties, political players and Regions were being wooed to the new alliance. 

'We' Igbos (read South East) vehemently refused to touch it even with a long pole. We packaged, sold to ourselves and bought the baseless propaganda that it was an Islamic alliance that would birth an "Islamic" and "Hausa" Party. Simply because those our brethren heavily invested in the PDP at the time were afraid of losing their vested selfish interests.
Till today I'm still trying to fathom the basis for that wicked and twisted deceit especially as many of those Igbo elites who sold that dummy have since ported to the same APC.

We failed to even identify with that new Alliance. Hence the Party, APC was birthed without any remarkable input from us or presence. The few amongst us who aligned were called all kinds of names and abused to high heavens by us even when they were proven right afterall.

Thus the few Igbos who were part of it were at best fringe players as they didn't have the required clout to make serious demands and do the necessary political wheeling and dealing required in Politics to strike the hard bargains since politics is all about interests and numbers. They were even suspect, so much so that it was only their personal political sagacity that gave them whatever they got.

That Party went on to win the Presidential Election which in truth, most of us never believed it could or would, because of our half baked permutations and poor understanding of Nigerian politics. But it did. 

Curiously we turned up at the fore front of telling this same Party how it should share it's 'spoils of war'. We became hypocritical moral champions with an over bloated sense of entitlement. Who does that, in all political reality and practicality? But we did, even while vehemently and vociferously still refusing to shift our position, style and rhethoric.

We dug in. Supported every bad thing and person against the Party, the elected President and the Administration while denying any and every good done to and for our Region.

Fast forward to where we are today. Almost four years after the 2015 misadventure, we have stayed put at 2015, refusing to move forward, refusing to shift grounds, refusing to play pragmatic politics, telling ourselves the same lies we cooked and bought in 2015 and some more. 

Now barely 5 months to another election, we have started again saying "APC cannot give Presidency to Igbos in 2023". "Buhari cannot hand over to an Igbo man because Buhari hates Igbos". "APC is deceiving you", bla bla bla.

Of course. We will believe Saraki, who has only but a fanthom dream of becoming President and whose only known record is selfishness but we can't believe Buhari who's already President and who has a record of voluntarily picking two great Igbo sons as running mates in the past? Chukwu aju.

It is interesting and vital to note here that the PDP which many of us still proudly support and adore was in power for 16 solid years and in those years there were 4 Presidential Inaugurations and on none of those was an Igbo man found worthy by the PDP of even Vice Presidency and we are still bold to say it is the APC that has not even finished one and a half tenure that doesn't want to give power to Igbos. Odi nma. 

NOW; Seriously, let's be sincere. As things stand today politically, why would the APC even hand power to us Igbos in 2023? 
On what grounds? 
On what records?
On what politics?
Is power given to anyone? 
Is it an appeasement or a gift? 

The APC is a political party. The main focus of a political Party is to hold power and keep it to enable it deliver on its agenda. So if the APC reads that the SE does not want the Presidency or does not have the capacity to help them win and keep power, they will stick with the regions that can and work with individuals who are interested. 

Make no mistake, I have always said, I do not blame us Igbos for the decision majority of us took in 2015. It's our right. But continuing to pretend that it was other regions, Buhari or the APC that made us do what we did then or remain where we are today is purely self deceit and I refuse to play that ostrich game. 

As far back as 2014, I and many others made that argument that Igbo Presidency was very feasible in 2023, ONLY under under the APC, ONLY IF we did a couple of things right politically. I personally continued to speak loudly on that even after the 2015 elections until when I realized that we were not ready to play the politics that was required and now I dare say it may be too late. Or is it not? Time will tell.

For now, we can continue to tell ourselves that we cannot hold the Presidency of Nigeria. I heard and read many of our brethren go from PDP to Biafra/seccesion (read IPOB) to Referendum to "Igbos do not need Presidency but Restructuring" etc forgetting that all that didn't lie squarely with us alone. We think other regions are not reading our body language?

I really don't care what Saraki writes or says because they've all come to realize that it's very easy to play us like a flute. So like Saraki, like Fani Kayode, like Fayose, like Atiku, even Jonah Jang of all people, they keep playing us.

I've learnt not to bother myself anymore to avoid unnecessary abuse from nonentities . As some of us have said, it's good governance we want, even if only one village will be producing the Presidents. So be it.

Ka Chineke mezie okwu. 

dignity33:
Nigeria like to complain yet they will keep on campaigning for looters to be president, what is people like Orji Kalu, Tinubu, Osibanjo, Atiku, etc who have track record of corruptions still doing in the affair of a nation while we have people like Peter Obi with fair record if not for tribal bigotry in Nigeria politic.

Go back sleep kiddo.
Too early to be yarning dust online.
What a young comedian!

Thieves....

Bomb them

I hope it goes well as they are planning it

Stories!!!!!
If they don't strategies by nominating a youth with track records of good character both at home and abroad it is DOA......Dead On Arrival.
No more are we going to be led by incompetent Old fraudulent People again.
Every ticking time that passes since the EndSARS Protests makes we members of Concerned Nigerian Youths(CNY) more poised to resisting Old people and Old ways for Nigeria Leadership at the Apex.

We Moooooove.

Proactivity Leads To Productivity!!!!!!!

© Seniorwriter

Waoooo
Good to see this come tru

Fahdiga1:
Nice one. They should all join forces to ensure that an Igbo man is elected as the president. Anything short of that will not be accepted by Nigerians

I am not against any tribe becoming whatever but the truth still remained. Any person elected under the current Nigeria system will end up serving a few person's interest, even Buhari was shocked to be contained. It is time the youth decide a change of leadership pattern by demanding true federalism, resources control, regional arrangements, a more transparent electoral process, etc. Until then it will keep been business as usual to politicians.

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God answer my prayers,I want to leave this country before coming election!

dissolve this expired country and saves lives!

Nice development from the outlook but let's see.

If you are not in this group or Rev. Kukah camp.
They need to give you Jonah treatment.

Join the group fast.

If this gamble would pay off, I would be more than impressed because there s this deep rooted suspicion and distrust among Nigerian tribes for each other with each one having the belief that the other wants to dominate it

We want to better Nigeria with freedom and equity.

It is my prayer that we would not get it wrong again like we did the last time;doing the same thing and expecting change and while looking for solution we got ourselves into a sinking quagmire

I pray they stay united even after a candidate is selected.

Fahdiga1:
Nice one. They should all join forces to ensure that an Igbo man is elected as the president. Anything short of that will not be accepted by Nigerians

NIGERIANS.... SORRY WHICH NIGERIANS...??
PRESIDENCY IS NOT GIVEN BY ISSUING THREAT,
IT IS A GAME OF NUMBERS AND ALLIANCES,
YOU GUYS SHOULD LEARN HOW TO PLAY THE GAME.

at the end of the day they will support the candidate with the most dollars. do you know why they were supporting atiku in 2015? it's because he has the must dollars to do give away then

It is well said but will they actualize it?
I suggest it should be a deal; once the selected candidate wins, if he doesn't restructure within the time frame, impeachment direct!

You don't have the Yorubas

The only thing I take serious from this country is restructuring, and that's the only way out, all other things are nonsense.

LMAO cruise, each group should look over their shoulders no trust or unity in Nigeria.. Betrayers are prowling

Na these major ethnic organizations be the problem......let people vote based on conscience n common sense.

How are they sure they will be Nigeria by 2023?

Hmmm
Country is in deep comma..