Posted by FROM SAXONE AKHAINE, KADUNA on
WITH 19 governors and former Heads of State and Presidents from the geopolitical zones in attendance, Northern political leaders, yesterday reiterated their opposition to any plan, constitutional or otherwise, that seeks to extend the tenure of President Obasanjo beyond 2007.
* Forum Insists On Preidency In 2007
WITH 19 governors and former Heads of State and Presidents from the geopolitical zones in attendance, Northern political leaders, yesterday reiterated their opposition to any plan, constitutional or otherwise, that seeks to extend the tenure of President Obasanjo beyond 2007.
The leaders also include a supposed 'close confidant' of Obasanjo', former military president General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida; as well as Obasanjo's main opponent in the 2003 elections, former head of state, General Muhammadu Buhari.
Both Buhari and Babangida are potential presidential candidates in the 2007 elections.
The participants, gathered under the aegis of Northern Senators' Forum (NSF) held at the Gamji Gate Conference Hall, Kaduna yesterday, also insisted that the Presidency must shift to the region in 2007.
Opening the concave, Chairman of the NSF, Senator Idris Kuta argued that the North was set to ensure that Obasanjo respects the provisions of the Constitution and the agreement that no political leader should serve more than two terms in office.
Kuta said that "our agitation for a return of the Presidency to the North in 2007, as well as our opposition to any amendment of the Constitution that will allow anyone to contest for office beyond the constitutionally stipulated two terms of four years each, is, therefore, a unanimous one."
He described the opposition as principled, patriotic, sincere and courageous, saying "we are determined to stand by it."
"Previously, some people had been saying that those politicians who spearheaded the call for the return of the Presidency to the North in 2007 were not elected office holders and did not have the mandate of their people to make such a call," he said.
"Today, (the presence of) all elected Northern Leaders, as well as all the elder statesmen, other leaders as well as the mandated Northern Delegates to the National Political Reform Conference, the Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, their Excellencies, the Governors, Senators and members of the House of Representatives, is the sure sign that we stand unified and firm in our desire to ensure a return of the Presidency to the North in 2007 in fulfilment of a sacred gentleman's agreement that was entered into by this country's elder statesmen and women in 1998/1999."
Kuta praised northern governors for endorsing, at their last meeting, the principled position enunciated by Governor Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi to ensure that political power, at the Presidency level, is returned to the North.
Stressing that Obasanjo must ensure that power returns to the North in 2007, Kuta noted, "it was in fulfilment of that agreement that many northern politicians gave up their presidential ambition that year (1999) and also in 2003 in order to allow our colleagues from the South to have a go at the office.
"After two full presidential terms, it is now time to fulfil the second leg of the gentlemen's agreement by shifting the Presidency back to the North in 2007," he enjoined.
Also at the meeting yesterday, the Chairman of the Governors' Forum, Alhaji Adamu Aliero of Kebbi State, said the North would do everything possible to ensure that Obasanjo returned power to the region. He noted that the region's governors had set the ball rolling by setting up a committee to strategise on the issue.
"I am confident that the stage has been set for the realisation of our political, social, and economic objectives," he said.. "The details of our objectives cannot be said publicly because I believe politics is the continuation of war by other means. And you don't go to war by revealing the contents of your ammunition.
"I will only say we will meet very shortly and by the grace of God, we will actualise our objectives by ensuring the Presidency comes to the North, come 2007."
In a good will message, Makarfi urged the senators to ensure that they are principled in their agitation for the 2007 Presidency to come to the North.
He said they should not soil their campaign for the Presidency by throwing abusive words across the country, stressing that they should remember that they also need the support of other geopolitical zones to achieve their goal.