2019: Northern elders shop for ‘unity’ candidate

SOME leaders from the Northern geo-political zones rose from a meeting on Saturday with a resolve to work in partnership with other regions to produce in 2019, a president of northern extraction that can unite and develop the country.

The northern leaders said the president that would emerge from the zone would have the capacity to move the country forward based on the principles of equity, justice and peace for all.

The meeting, which was convened under the aegis of the Northern Elders and Stakeholders Conversation and held in Abuja, agreed to ensure a united North as the leaders declared that the disunity in the region and insecurity were threats ahead of the next general election.

The meeting was chaired of Alhaji Tanko Yakassai with former Minister of Defence, Alhaji Haliru Bello Mohammed; former Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu, and Senator Paul Wampana as co-conveners.

The forum slammed Northern governors for their “inability to maintain fairness, equity and social cohesion in business of governance, especially on government appointments and empowerment.”

“Most appointees were being married to nepotism as a new phenomenon rearing its ugly heads in the region,” the leaders said.

Discussants at the forum tasked the northern governors to “pay attention to good leadership and discontinue with recruitment of half-baked or non-educated people in leadership spectrum.”

In a welcome address, the former acting chairman of the Peoples Democratic

Party (PDP), Bello Haliru Mohammed, noted that it had become imperative for the region to form “a wide and enduring political network and channel of communication” which would champion dialogue and consultations among the Northern political class.

“This will reduce acrimony and conflict; and conversely create trust among the northern political elite and facilitate the attainment of the set goals—cultural and political unity of the North.

“It is our unity in the North that can facilitate and give legitimacy to our alliance with the South to provide the required leadership to move this country forward.

“From what is apparent in the political arena today, it is clear that the major political operators have agreed that in the forthcoming 2019 election, it is the turn of the North to produce the president.

“Therefore, there is a need to partner with brothers and sisters from other regions to ensure that, this time around, the leadership that shall emerge is one that can unite and develop our country with equity, justice and peace for all; this is the main objective of this meeting,’’ he said.

They said that the meeting would remain a non-partisan platform to promote conversations that represent all shades of political opinions, ethnic and religious diversities of the North.

Yakassai, in his opening remarks, said that the North was passing through its worst period since the amalgamation of 1914, adding that the elders must resolve the leadership failure in the Northern region.

He said: “There are issues of insecurity, civil strife, internecine ethnic killings, killer herdsmen, indigene/settler conflict, kidnappings, collapse of civil authority, and so on,

“In addition, comparatively among the current six geo-political zones of the country, the three Northern zones are worse off in terms of human and physical infrastructure, economy and education.”

A communiqué issued at the end of the meeting and signed by Senator Mantu said the meeting approved the holding of a Northern Political Summit on 15th March, 2018 to commemorate the attainment of self-government of the Northern Region in 1959.

The forum set up five sub-committees, including the 2019 Election Sub-Committee as well as Restructuring of Nigeria Sub-Committee,  to address the various issues challenging the North.

Others northern leaders at the meeting included former speaker of House of Representatives, Ghali Umar N’Abba; former Sokoto State Governor, Attahiru Bafarawa; former governor of Kogi State, Idris Wada; former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Professor Ango Abdullahi,

The list also included Professor Auwal Yadudu; former Deputy Governor of Sokoto State, Mukhtar Shehu Shagari; another former Minister, Solomon Ewuga; Senator Jeremiah Useni, former Adamawa Governor, Boni Haruna;  Zannan Mubi, Senator Ibrahim Ida and Dr Umar Ardo, a former governorship aspirant in Adamawa State.