By Abba Hamisu Sani
Africa-Press-Nigeria Northern Nigeria is the most Populous region in Nigeria with Nineteen States out of thirty six States the Country has Also in terms of Voting pattern the region provide the large votes during all the elections Nigeria conducted from Colonial to Post Colonial Period.
Recently the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has vowed that the north will continue leading Nigeria, arguing that the region has the majority to produce a leader through the ballot.
With the 2023 presidential polls in view, leaders and politicians of southern extraction have been clamoring for a shift in power, arguing that the region must provide the nation’s next leader.
But NEF, in its most recent submission on the nation’s polity, rejected the push to have Nigeria’s next president come from the southern region.
“We will lead Nigeria the way we have led Nigeria before. Whether we are president or vice president or whatever, we will lead Nigeria,” NEF spokesman, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, said .
According to him, NEF will not allow the 2023 presidency to be zoned to the southern part of the country, insisting that the position is a democratic office that will be determined by the majority.
He maintained that there is nothing wrong if the north produces the next president after Muhammadu Buhari, adding that this is possible not because the north is superior to others, but because the rules of politics avail the region a great opportunity.
The NEF spokesman stressed that the north will never be cowed into submission, nor forced to give up in the quest to retain power in 2023 considering its huge human population that gives the region an advantage over others.
While stating that the future of the north is not for sale, Baba-Ahmed also maintained that the region will not be threatened, intimidated or blackmailed into giving up its right to a democratic office.
He said the region should not be compelled to give up a democratically elected office that can be sought by any person irrespective of where he or she comes from.
The NEF spokesman further reminded those calling for power rotation to bury such thoughts, saying Nigeria is running a democratic government, whereby decisions over where the next president comes from are basically decisions that will be made by voters who will elect the leaders of their choice.
Baba-Ahmed said: “The vote says vote who you want. We have the majority of the votes. Why do we need to accept a second class position when we can fight and get a first class position. Why?
“Why does anyone need to threaten us and cajole us and intimidate us? If you don’t bring the presidency here, you will see, okay let’s see, we are waiting to see.
“But when we get the power, in the name of God be humble because power comes from God”.
“If they tell you the north must play second fiddle, say No! If the rule of the game says you should vote for the candidate of your choice, vote for the candidate of your choice.
“If they do not like the fact that it might be a northerner that will emerge as president, too bad. If we want to support a southerner, we will support a southerner because that will be in our own interest, rather than in somebody’s interest.
“And we can decide for ourselves, we do not need anybody to tell us what to do,” Baba-Ahmed added.
The NEF spokesman’s comments came a few days after governors from the southern region of Nigeria declared their support to have the 2023 presidency zoned to their region.
Rising from a meeting in Enugu, Chairman of the Forum and Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu said the leaders have resolved that the next president of Nigeria must come from the southern part in line with politics of equity, justice, and fairness.
Comrade Datti Abbas Danbatta who is the Coordinator Arewa Concern Citizens Forum
Urged President Buhari to back a presidential Candidate from the North as his successor .
The activist made this call during a visit to the Emir of Daura Alhaji Farouk Umar Farouj at Buhari’s Home town.
Datti added that with Present security and Economic condition of the North only a Northerner with a good Political and radical will can fix it.
Lawal Usman, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says the party must zone its presidential ticket to the North for the 2023 general elections for strategic reasons.
Mr Usman, popularly called ‘Mr LA’, said this when he spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Zaria on Sunday.
“For the strategic interest of the party and the nation, the PDP must zone its presidential ticket to the North in 2023,” he said.
Mr Usman said that the party must give the ticket to the North for fairness and equity.
“For justice and equity, the North should be allowed to produce the president in 2023 under the PDP.
“The PDP was at the helm of affairs in Nigeria for 16 years, out of these, the South-west ruled for eight years under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the South-south ruled for six years through former President Goodluck Jonathan.
“The entre North consisting of North-central, North-east and North-west only ruled for two years under late President Umar Yar’Adua,” he said.
Mr Usman, also a former Kaduna Central Senatorial candidate, said that the PDP had more supporters in the North than in any part of the country.
“The population of the PDP supporters in the North-west, North-east and North-central is enormous and should be considered in zoning the presidential ticket.
Added to this is the fact that the North has a traditional alliance with the South-east which dates back to early independence days.
“Strategically, for PDP to survive, we must win the presidential election in 2023 and this can only be done if we give the North the ticket.
“This is not because the North has the best candidates, no it is not, there are qualified people all over the country, but for strategic reason of winning the election we must zone the ticket to the North.
I believe that the PDP will win with landslide victory if it zone the ticket to the North,” he said.
Mr Usman said that the PDP had been repositioned by elders at the November National Convention in Abuja.
“Absolutely, the party elders used party mechanism to reposition the party by bringing together all warring factions and aggrieved people, this was done in the overall interest of the party and Nigeria as a whole.
“This is because there must be a party in place before you can start thinking of how to go for an election.
“They were able to put everybody together. It was a great job done by the party elders.
