2023: We’ll support whoever has North’s interest –ACF

Apex Northern socio- cultural organisation, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has declared that the forum cannot decide for political parties where their presidential candidates should come from ahead of the 2023 general elections.

 

The organisation said it would only evaluate the candidates presented by political parties and decide which one to support based on their programmes and intentions for the North.

 

And reacting to a statement credited to the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El- Rufai, that the North should allow the South have their own chance after the eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari, the ACF National Publicity Secretary, Emmanuel Yawe, said only political parties have the constitutional responsibility to present candidates for elections.

 

Yawe told Sunday Telegraph that the ACF is not a political party and so cannot present candidates, but added that it will support candidates that best represent the interest of the North.

 

He said: “Our position is that the ACF cannot decide for the political parties what part of the country – North or South – where their presidential candidates should come from. “It is only political parties that have the constitutional responsibility to present candidates for elections.

 

The ACF is not a political party so it has no role in the choice of presidential candidates. “When the political parties  choose their candidates, we shall then evaluate them and see who will represent the interest of the North best.”

 

Also weighing in on the matter, the Middle belt Patriotic Front, through its convene, Ibrahim Bunu, said that El-Rufai’s support for the South is borne out of nothing but his ambition to become the vice president. In an interview with Sunday Telegraph, Bunu said El-Rufai was only stating the obvious that Buhari’s successor should come from the South, but added that his comment was self-serving.

 

He said: “But a lot of Nigerians will view El-Rufai’s statement with sinister motives because he is interested in becoming the Vice President, but that will be considered by the people of Nigeria to stand and decide, maybe he is saying it because he has an alliance with someone that he wants to be his Vice President and he has the right to contest, but Nigerians know who to support.

 

“El-Rufai’s statement is laudable and commendable, but there are factors that will be considered if a Southern candidate must emerge. The person must be a Christian so that there will be balance in the religious ground while the North produces the Vice President who is a Muslim.

 

So Nigeria must unite to share the power since the parties and the geopolitical zones have agreed that  power must rotate so that every part and all the ethnic groups within Nigeria will have a sense of belonging.”

 

However, Bunu noted that there are rumours and plots and manipulations by some selfish individuals who want power to remain in the North in order to polarize the country. However another leader in the Middle Belt, Hon. David Rachar, believes that those in the Presidency are testing the waters ahead of 2023. “Remember what a certain Mamman Daura said a few weeks ago on the Igbos and the Nigerian presidency?

 

Remember what Dr. Obadiah Mailafiya also said last week? “Juxtapose these two comments and you can extrapolate what is going on. But we’re surely getting wiser. The Fulani and Hausas want to keep power forever. “For them Olusegun Obasanjo’s presidency was a mistake which would never be repeated.”