IN the run-up to the 2015 general elections, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has insisted that power must return to the north.
The NEF spokesman, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, said that the forum had told the northern governors, who are not ready to key into the 2015 “Northern Presidency” project to prepare for the worst because there is no alternative to it.
He stated that the bottom line is that, “power must return to the north in 2015 and the region is ready to align with any political party that will offer the north the presidential ticket.”
He added: “As it is now, it appears that PDP has closed shop for a northern candidate with Tony Anenih’s automatic ticket proposal for Jonathan. But we will wait to see how it goes; if the party should have a re-think on the proposal and offer the north the presidential ticket in 2015, we will support them, but anything contrary we are out of it.
“We have made it clear to our governors before now and we will continue to remind them because we will not budge.”
On the recent suspension of Governor Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto state from the party the PDP, Abdullahi said the party has more suspensions to make because, “there is no way the party can rebuild its collapsed empire.”
Abdullahi condemned Governor Isa Yuguda’s withdrawal from the Northern Governors Forum in protest over the outcome of the recent Nigerian Governors Forum election, saying he could only stop attending the meeting, “but cannot pull out from the region, because Bauchi is part of the north and he cannot take it away.”
“We cannot continue like this. But as far as Nigerians allow themselves to be manipulated along ethnic, tribal and religious lines, there is a price for them to pay and there is a limit of such price,” he said.
“As long as we continue to choose charlatan and incompetent leaders, the country will continue to suffer for it. If you listen to people, like Tony Anenih, you will understand that what they want is to retain power and abuse it, but we cannot sit down and watch him.”
He alleged that Nigerians have seen at least 12 years of southern presidency since 1999 with little or nothing to show for it.
