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From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Arewa Joint Committee on interaction with the 2023 presidential candidates have said that the interaction was not meant to endorse any candidate for the election.
The Arewa Joint Committee was made up of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) Northern Elders For (NEF), Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation (SABMF), Jamiyyar Matan Arewa (JMA) Arewa House (Center for Historical Development and Research) and Arewa Research Development Project (ARDP).
The Arewa leaders had penultimate week invited the presidential candidates of Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, People’s Redemption Party (PRP), Kola Abiola, Social Democratic Party (SDP), Adewole Adebayo, People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, the All Progressive Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, and New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
But Kwankwaso did not turn up for the event because, “he chose not to participate”.
However, after his own presentation and comments at the event, Atiku was reported to have allegedly said that North did not need presidential candidates of Igbo and Yoruba extractions.
Though Atiku’s media handlers and other sympathisers have denied it, the issue has continued to dominate media waves, particularly, social media.
But in their reaction, the Arewa Joint Committee through its Chairman, Murtala Aliyu who is also the Secretary General of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) said, “Only Atiku could clear himself about comment on Igbo, Yoruba presidential candidacy. We asked questions to which he responded, so we are not in a position to react to his comments in Arewa House”.
While addressing the press on Tuesday, a day after they were done with all the presidential candidates, the Committee Chairman said, “We are grateful to the candidates who honoured our invitation and who showed respect to public
opinion and the Nigerian voter by submitting themselves to the most intimate scrutiny by Northern elders and other groups, the media and the public.
“These interactions, the first of their type in the history of our country, have been a tremendous success. First, they demonstrated the strong bonds of unity of the people of the North, represented by the collaborating groups, and our unquestioning commitment to the search for the best quality of leadership out of the many candidates who want our support.
“Second, they showed a commendable level of respect for the democratic process by the candidates who submitted to the process.
“Third, they afforded Nigerians a rare opportunity to see and hear candidates speak about their plans and vision.
“Four, they helped to focus attention on the peculiar and shared problems and challenges of the North
and scrutinize the levels of understanding and sympathy for them among the candidates.
“Finally, they raised the bar in our search for leadership that respects accountability and competence.
“These interactions, in themselves, were not planned with the goal of endorsing a candidate. They are part of a longer process that plans to generate commitments to address the challenges of the North by candidates, and which covers a substantial part of the campaigning period.
“We plan to extract and publish these commitments, so that Nigerians may measure and evaluate candidates against them. Our goal is to afford citizens an opportunity to match candidates against their commitments to matters that are central to the interests of the North.
“Until the elections in February, 2023, the North will be challenged to raise its vigilance over all electoral activities. It is vital that we prioritize evidence of competence, integrity, quality of preparation and commitment to address the challenges of the North among
candidates.
“We will continue to invite attention of the government to the security of the electoral process, and in particular, the vulnerability of many parts of the North to organized crime which may pose a serious threat to their rights to participate in electing the next set of leaders in 2023.
“The need to show restraint and discipline as politicians canvass for our elections has never been
more pressing. The entire nation must be open to all contestants and free from violence.
“The exploitation of ethnic and religious fault lines is extremely dangerous, and the nation is already showing signs of stress owing to this exploitation.
“Let me conclude by thanking the Nigerian media for its role in taking these interactions to the homes of Nigerians. We hope we can rely on the Nigerian media to help us reach Nigerians as we continue with activities related to these interactions”.
