REWIND: In 2013, NEF clamoured for power shift to north — but now says zoning is ‘dead’

The issue of power rotation between the south and north continues to be a topic of discussion ahead of the 2023 presidential election.

Those who are at the forefront of the call for the southern presidency argued that President Muhammadu Buhari would have spent eight years in office as a northerner in 2023, hence the presidency should go south.

But some groups and stakeholders have disagreed with the southern presidency, discarding the zoning arrangement.

One of the groups against the zoning of the presidency in 2023 is the Northern Elders Forum (NEF).

In July 2021, the northern elders rejected the position of the southern governors that the 2023 presidency should be zoned to the southern part of the country.

The forum, in a statement by Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, its spokesperson, said the presidency is a democratic office and not a rotational position, adding that the north would not be intimidated into giving up its political rights.

In September 2021, the NEF spokesperson said the north has more votes to produce the next president, adding that if a northern candidate is elected as president in 2023, “anyone who does not like that could leave the country”.

In January 2022, NEF also kicked against the idea of zoning the presidency, insisting that all political parties should field candidates of their choices.

“Northerners have equal rights to aspire to all offices, but they must raise competence, evidence of personal integrity and commitments to the rule of law above all other considerations,” the forum had said.

“Northerners should ignore provocative statements from groups in the south of Nigeria who appear to believe that command democracy in which threats and hate campaigns are their hallmarks or defining elements will work in Nigeria. North should vote for the best leader.”

On Thursday, Ango Abdullahi, convener of NEF, said the forum believes that the presidential position should be left open in the spirit of democracy, adding that zoning is dead on arrival.

“The issue of zoning or power shift is dead and buried, candidates should be allowed to contest election on the basis of merit of their competence and not where they come from, hence the Northern Elders Forum is of the opinion that the presidential position should be left open for standard norms of the democratic process,” Abdullahi had said.

Was this the position of the Northern Elders Forum in the build-up to the 2015 presidential election? No.

‘NORTH WILL NOT MISUSE ITS OPPORTUNITY TO BECOME IN 2015’

In May 2013, the forum had argued that the presidency should be zoned to the northern part of the country in the 2015 general election, adding that it was a mark of equity and justice.

Abdullahi had insisted that the north would never again compromise what rightly belongs to them, saying the forum had taken all measures to ensure the north returned to power in 2015.

‘NORTH MUST PRODUCE 2015 PRESIDENT — JONATHAN MORALLY WRONG TO CONTEST’

In July 2013, six northern groups, including NEF, insisted that the north must produce Nigeria’s president in 2015, saying that there was an agreement on power rotation.

The groups accused then President Goodluck Jonathan of flouting the rotation policy in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after the death of former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

Abdullahi, who spoke on behalf of six groups, said the north would use its numerical strength to ensure that power returned to it in 2015.

“The north on the basis of one man, one vote can keep power indefinitely in the present Nigerian state. If it is on the basis of one man, one vote, demography shows that the north can keep power as long as it wants because it will always win elections,” the NEF convener had said.

NEF ENDORSED BUHARI IN 2015

In January 2015, the forum endorsed the candidacy of Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 presidential poll while insisting that the north must produce the president.

“This forum is agitating for a candidate from the north and no party has fulfilled such a condition except the All Progressives Congress (APC),” Abdullahi had said.