2023 Polls: We’re Now Wiser, Northern Votes Will Count — NEF
BY EDMOND ODOK – Distraught by growing insecurity and a collapsing economy, Convener of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Professor Ango Abdullahi says the North is now wiser and will not repeat the mistakes of the past.
Also hinting that the zone knows who it will vote for when the time comes, Abdullahi said Northern votes will make an impact on who becomes Nigeria’s next president come 2023 general elections.
The NEF Convener, who spoke at a book launch in Kaduna on Thursday, said the North will be more evaluative of who to support in the presidential race, saying; “We will be more critical than all others over who wins our support. We bear scars from governance by one we substantially voted into power twice.
The Professor of Medicinal Chemistry further said; “We will be more critical than all others over who wins our support. We bear scars from governance by one we substantially voted into power twice.
“Northern votes will make a major impact in the 2023 elections as well, but they will be cast by people who are now wiser and more discerning”.
He said going by current developments within the polity, “The North will participate in all political and electoral activities as equals and with respect to other Nigerians who respect us. The North wants leaders who will lead with integrity, competence, compassion, and the fear of God.”
According to the former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria; “We will not support a candidate that fails to convince that he will radically improve the quality of governance and the integrity of leaders.
“Secondly, Northerners will not be intimidated into making choices that do not improve the chances of real changes in their current circumstances.”
Further pointing to the worrying security challenges bedevilling the nation, Prof Abdullahi said; “We have paid a high price in conflicts around religion in the North, and we do not need to do more. Our insecurity and collapsing economy do not discriminate between Christians and Muslims.”
“We cannot seek solutions from them as Muslims or Christians. I have to state here that we are witnessing some of the crudest and most unproductive campaigns to create divisions between Hausa and Fulani people, and create distances between Christians and Muslims in the North.”
However, insisting that these attempts will fail as they do not find any historical support, the NEF Convener said; “We warn that these contemptible attempts will fail because they find no support in history going back centuries, or in the recent past.
“While we differ in faith and ethnicity, history, geography, and our experiences in living as Nigerians have created roots and bonds that cannot be destroyed by desperate political gambits”.
