By Nicholas Ojo
The Arewa joint committee (AJC) had between Saturday, October 15, and Monday 17 hosted five candidates to participate in the interactive series for candidates for the 2023 presidential election.
The coalition is said not to be a political group, but an organisation interested in contributing to fostering development in Nigeria, especially in the north.
“The interaction was not planned with the goal of endorsing a candidate.
“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,” Murtala Aliyu, chairman, steering committee of the group said.
The committee, which organised the just-concluded interactive session comprised the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Arewa Research and Development Project (ARDP), Sir Ahmadu Bello Foundation, and Jamiyyar Matan Arewa (JMA).
The programme, was attended by Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kola Abiola of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), and Adewale Adeboye of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Bola Tinubu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), and the NNPP candidate.
Here are the 7 takeaways from the historical Interactive sessions
Northerner needs somebody who is from the north
It all started with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as he asked his fellow Northerners to vote for him in the 2023 general elections.
According to Atiku, Northerners need to vote for him rather than a Yoruba or Igbo candidate because he was a Pan-Nigerian with a northern extraction that had built bridges across the country.
He made the remarks while responding to a question posed to him by the spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, during the Interactive Session.
The Presidential candidates of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, and that of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, are from the South-West region while the Labour Party’s Peter Obi is from the South-East region.
“What the average Northerner needs is somebody who’s from the north who also understands that part of the country and has been able to build bridges across the country.
“This is what the Northerner needs, it doesn’t need a Yoruba or Igbo candidate, I stand before you as a Pan-Nigerian of northern origin,” Atiku said.
He also said he knew every part of the country and if elected as Nigerian president in 2023, he would form a government of national unity.
“I have traversed the whole of this country, I know the whole of the country, I have built bridges across the country.”
Step down for me, endorse me
The All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, threw a jab at Atiku, his main contender for playing the ethnic card ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
Tinubu, at the interactive session said he sees himself as a pan-Nigerian, having transversed all parts of the country.
He, however, noted, “You (apparently referring to Atiku) started from Uyo and now ended up in Kaduna and you are speaking to the North that you are the right candidate for the North; how do we reconcile that? You have lost the election.”
He asked Atiku to reciprocate the gesture he gave to him when he contested for the presidency in 2007 under the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) by dropping his (Tinubu’s) ambition and endorsing him.
Tinubu said: “I was with Atiku during his campaign for president, now that I’m contesting, it’s pay back time. He should come and endorse me instead of hosting rally in Kaduna while I talk with great minds here.”
Nigeria is a failed State not in control of the economy and security
On his part, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) and former Governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi said that when a country is no longer in control of the economy and security, such country is nothing but a failed State.
According to the former Anambra State Governor, “Nigeria is not bereft of ideas but institutional weakness and lack of political will to effect genuine change that will better the lives of average Nigerians,.:
He said that he was committed to unlocking the greatness of the country and lifting her from a consuming country to a producing one.
“Insecurity will be a thing of the past when I get elected as president through the creation of employment opportunities for youths who are tools used to perpetrate social vices.
”Once jobs are created and the youths are gainfully engaged and made productive, insecurity would have been reduced to the barest minimum and will no longer be a lucrative business,. The security agencies will be adequately equipped to handle all forms of insecurity in the country,” he said.
The Arewa consultative forum is biased
The presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, turned down an invitation to appear at the interactive session.
In a statement signed by his campaign spokesperson, Abdulmumini Jibrin, Mr Kwankwaso accused the Arewa Joint Committee, of being biased and having concluded plans to endorse one of the presidential candidates.
Mr Jibrin claimed the NNPP has credible information that the event is compromised.
The party warned the organisers of the programme that endorsing a candidate from the region will only result in further disuniting the north and compound the challenges the region is already facing.
“We have credible information in our possession that shows that some people have been compromised and these people have concluded plans to turn the event into an endorsement platform for a particular candidate,” Mr Jibrin said without mentioning the name of the candidate.
“We believe that it is very wrong for any group to clandestinely plan to endorse any candidate in the name of the North, especially when we have more than one candidate from our region.
Our candidate was deliberately excluded from the Forum
The leadership of the African Action Congress, AAC stated that the presidential candidate of the party, Omoyele Sowore, might have been deliberately excluded from the Arewa Consultative Forum event
The party said a partisan individual within the organization might have been responsible for it.
AAC revealed that the Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum sent a letter of invitation to Mr Omoyele Sowore dated June, 14th 2022, without details such as the date, time, and venue of the said dialogue.
This is contained in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Femi Adeyeye, tagged ‘Why Omoyele Sowore, Presidential Candidate Of The African Action Congress Was Absent At The Event Of The Arewa Consultative Forum Held Yesterday, 17th October 2022.’
He said; “We wish to use this medium to clear the air and the many queries around the absence of Mr Omoyele Sowore, the Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) at the Arewa Consultative Forum event that held in Kaduna yesterday.
“We want to state that the Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum sent a letter of invitation to Mr Omoyele Sowore dated June, 14th 2022.
“Mr. Sowore responded through the National Secretary of our great party; thanked the forum for the invitation and requested further details such as the date, time, and venue of the said dialogue.
“This correspondence was sent to the email provided. There were no other official means of contact provided by the forum; in the letter or on the website of the organization.
“Till the event happened neither the party nor the candidate got any reply and there are still no explanations.
“In the understanding of events that have played out since the invitation, it is apparent that Sowore might have been deliberately excluded because of the relationship and underhand activities of a partisan individual within the organization,” he said.
Handpicking a few candidates will give credence to the fears
Accord presidential candidate, Professor Christopher Imumolen, demanded a free, fair, transparent and inclusive debate at the Arewa Joint Committee meeting with Presidential Candidates in Kaduna.
Imumolen made this known while responding to the claim made by Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso, NNPP’s presidential candidate, that the foremost northern pressure group had concluded plans to use the debate to endorse a candidate for the 2023 general elections, Imumolen said it was in the interest of Arewa to ensure a high level of transparency.
“I am speaking against the background of allegations made by my fellow presidential candidate, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso who recently withdrew from the debate by Arewa House, alleging there was a secret plot to use the event to endorse a candidate,” Imumolen said.
“I want to believe this is not true, even though it obvious that some of my colleagues who are flagbearers of other political parties haven’t been included.
“Well, let me say this. If the organisers want Nigerians to see the debate as credible, they must not be seen as shutting out any candidate. Every one who deserves to be at the debate should be invited to present and defend their manifestos.
“Handpicking of a few candidates will not only tacitly give credence to the fears already expressed by Kwankwaso, it will also narrow down the options of our most discerning electorate who tend to make their choices from what they see.
“Besides, no where in the world a presidential debate is made a forum of endorsements for candidates. Arewa Consultative Forum will, therefore, be shooting itself in the foot by trying to do so, and thus showing its hand that it is sectional and biased in it’s outlook.
“Now, am sure they can’t be expected to be taken seriously by those who had expected them to be apolitical, fair and transparent in the conduct of a debate that has far-reaching implications for the future of our great country.
“Arewa must do everything in its power to avoid the mistakes made by both the NBA and the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry when they handpicked a few of the candidates to take part in their versions of the presidential debates during recent conferences in Lagos,” he said.
North has not endorsed any candidate
The Arewa Joint Committee (AJC) had clarified that they have not endorsed any presidential candidate for the 2023 general elections.
The disclosure was made during a press conference at the ACF secretariat in Kaduna, the Secretary General of the Forum, Mallam Murtala Aliyu, said Arewa leaders “hosted five of the six candidates who had accepted to participate in the (recent) historic interactions.” Alhaji Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso abstained.
But the leadership of the Arewa Joint Committee, dismissed the claim, declaring that the exercise was never intended to endorse any presidential candidate.
Aliyu insisted that the interaction with the various presidential candidates were not for endorsement, stressing that the exercise were part of the plan to generate commitment to address the challenges of the region by candidates.
He 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.
“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 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,” he said.