Posted by By JAMES OJO, Abuja, BASHIR UMAR, Abuja on
Northern leaders, under the aegis of Northern Union say that South-South geopolitical zone sold its right to occupy the presidency in 2007 by supporting the failed plot to extend President Olusegun Obasanjo's tenure.
• North tells South-South
Northern leaders, under the aegis of Northern Union say that South-South geopolitical zone sold its right to occupy the presidency in 2007 by supporting the failed plot to extend President Olusegun Obasanjo's tenure.
They insisted that power must shift to the North for the peace and unity of the country.
Rising from a meeting on Thursday in Abuja, the group declared: 'It must be cleared to the generality of Nigerians that the sole aim of Northern Union is that power must shift to the North, it is very simple, it should not lead to any form of controversy."
Briefing the press midway into the meeting, a leader of the group, Dr. Olusola Saraki, said that for the South-South leaders to campaign vigorously for the elongation of President Obasanjo's tenure, after the expiration of his two terms in office, the zone had sold its rights to the presidency.
The union hinged its insistence on power shift to the North on an understanding reached with the leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that power would return to the North after two terms in the South, which they said informed the massive opposition launched against tenure elongation.
'Now, our stand is that power must shift to the North. We are not giving up, so that peace will reign in the country and there would be unity. This informed this meeting. We are only strategizing to let power shift to the North," Dr. Saraki said.
According to him, the North was ready to deploy every weapon at its disposal to achieve this, adding that this was why the North did not support the third term agenda as it would have negated the decision taken in 1995 during the reign of the late Abacha that power must go to the South and return to the North after two terms of four years.
'We thank God that third term is dead. With the death of third term, we have raised the hope that we shall defeat our enemies. The North would use every opportunity given us by God to ensure that power returns to the North, so that tomorrow when we are no more, those who are coming behind would know that we mastered our own moment," he said.
Elaborating on the position of the union, Professor Ango Abdullahi told other zones that might be eying the presidency, after President Obasanjo, that power must return to the North next year.
'It must be cleared to the generality that this is the aim of this union. It is our aims and objectives that we must kill third term. Thank God, we have succeeded in doing this at the National Assembly.
Now, it is the unity of the North and we have done well also. The remaining part is equity and fairness that we agreed upon in 1998/1999, in 2002/2003 where it was clearly stated using the platform of the PDP as a party that power will reside in the South for the first and second term, after which it will shift to the North. This is all and it is very simple, I can't see why it led to controversy," the former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria declared.
Those who attended the meeting include Comrade Pascal Bafyau; former governor of old Borno State, Mohammed Goni; Tanko Yakassai, Dr. Ibrahim Lami, fomer Inspector General of Police, Gambo Jimeta; Senator Wash Pam; Patrick Adaba, one time deputy governor of Kogi State, Idris Koko, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN) and Aishat Mohammed.
In a related development, South-South senators have castigated Niger State governor, Engr. Abdulladir Kure for saying that the zone is incapable of producing the president.
Addressing newsmen at the National Assembly, the South- South senators, led by the Senate Chief Whip, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, said: 'He (Kure) said among other things that the South- South is always 'under" and not to be 'seen." He also went on to say that for the PDP to choose a candidate from the South South will be to destroy the PDP, as the only candidate with national appeal are from the North. In fact, he went on to say that if we insist on the right person leading the country always, then all the presidents of Nigeria will come from the North.
'When we first saw the publication, we assumed that such an irresponsible statement could not have been by a person of the status of Alhaji Abdulkadir Kure. We were therefore, expecting to see a denial in today's newspapers (Thursday). We are disappointed that no such denial has been made. We therefore feel entitled to assume that he stands by those statements and find it necessary to respond".
Describing the statements as provocative and disturbing, the senators said: 'Over the years, the South- South has complained of the great injustice where we produce a good percentage of the wealth of this country, as well as some of the best material in this country in all walks of life, but have been consistently denied the opportunity to produce the president, and to add insult to injury, we are now told that this great injustice is because we are not good enough."
They noted that even in the National Assembly they have some of the brightest legislators in Nigeria as well as governors, while their region had produced captains of industry, retired generals and top civil servants 'and yet somebody insults us that we are not good enough. This nonsense must stop!".
The senators declared that the South- South deserved to occupy the presidency in 2007, adding, 'we shall prove to such persons as Alhaji Kure that we are not the underdogs of Nigerian politics".
When reminded about the Niger State governor's denial, where he said 'nobody in his right senses will say there is no qualified person for the office of the president of Nigeria from the South-South," the senators queried why Kure made the statement in one paper and denied it in another
They rejected his clarification that he was referring to an individual, saying that Governor Odili, being one of their leaders, must not be undermined by Kure, who they said, was no match to Odili.