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2019: Arewa, NEF, others pass vote of no confidence on Buhari, northern politicians

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2019: Arewa, NEF, others pass vote of no confidence on Buhari, northern politicians

President Muhammadu Buhari and other political leaders from the North have been described as failures and should not expect votes from the region in the coming 2019 general elections.

This was stated by the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), the Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) and 16 other leading groups in the northern region on Saturday.

According to them, President Buhari and other political leaders from the North have totally failed the region and must be voted out in 2019 except they demonstrate a willingness to champion a massive assault on poverty and underdevelopment in the North.

In a communiqué following the groups’ summit held at the residence of the late Premier of the defunct Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Arewa House, Kaduna, they regretted that the hopes that Buhari and other political leaders elected in 2015 will turn the fortune of the North around have been dashed.

The communiqué read by the Chief of Staff to the Senate President, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, read in part, “The hopes that leaders who have been in power since 2015 will reverse the abuse and neglect of the region in the previous decade have been betrayed.

“Weak governance, gross insensitivity and unacceptable levels of incompetence have been compounded by battles of attrition in which northerners have sapped one another’s strength.

“Weak and incoherent responses to provocations from other parts of the country around the imperatives of re-visiting the foundations and structures of the Nigerian state have created the false image of a North without its own positions beyond survival as the parasite of Nigeria.

“The historic gains in the northern political unity secured by northern votes in the 2015 elections have been wasted by the poor management of conflicts between and among northern communities.

“Today, northern communities are erecting barricades against members of other communities, and politicians who have failed to lead and make impacts in the lives of the poor and the vulnerable are daily feeding the people with hate and resentment instead of searching for genuine and lasting solutions.

“In a region with enough resources for every community or trade, our people are now fighting for morsels, while leaders think of new ways to turn our misery into electoral capital.

“The summit noted that in spite of notable successes by the Buhari administration against the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East, many northern communities still live under its threat.

“In many other parts of the North, communities are routinely exposed to attacks from shadowy killers, while suspicion and anger against the suspected killers is pitching northerners against one other.”

READ ALSO: BBOG worried over relationship between Buhari govt and Boko Haram

The signatories to the communique included Prof. Ango Abdullahi (Chairman ACF Political Committee/Convener, Northern Elders Forum); Dr. Yima Sen (NEF); Amb. Ibrahim Mai Sule (ACF); Bello Suleiman (CODE Group); Mataimaki Maiyashi, (Arewa Research Development Project); Zannah Boguma (Borno Elders Forum); Nafiu Baba-Ahmed (Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria), and Dr. Ibrahim Yakubu Lame (Northern Union).

Others were Alhaji Yerima Shettima (Arewa Youth Consultative Forum; Pastor Aminchi Habu (United Christian Leaders Eagle Eye Forum); Balarabe Rufai (Coalition of Northern Groups); Isa Tijjani Labour (Veterans Association); Rev. Bitrus Dangiwa (CAN Northern Chapter); Umar Ahmed (Zaria Jama’atu Nasiril Islam); and Buba Adamah (Arewa People Unity Association).

Hassan El-Adamu (Arewa Initiative For Good Governance); Abdulazeez Suleiman (Northern Emancipation Network) and Bilkisu Oniyangi (Arewa Initiative for Good Governance) also signed the communique.

The groups then called on all northern politicians not to “expect to be voted for in the next general election unless they demonstrate a willingness to champion a massive assault on poverty and underdevelopment in the North.”

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They went further to say, “Most political office holders from the North are hereby served a notice that they have failed the test to lead the region towards economic recovery and growth.

“The leadership selection process must be critically interrogated to present the best leader to Nigeria as a whole. No one should take the North for granted, and it is not for sale.”

Professor Ango Abdullahi, the convener of the summit, had in his opening remarks earlier hinted that the North was in search of credible leaders ahead of the 2019 elections.

While noting that elections were less than one year away, he said that it was urgent that the North searched for a credible presidential candidate to replace President Muhammadu Buhari.

 

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