{"id":321163,"date":"2011-03-19T00:08:55","date_gmt":"2011-03-19T00:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/03\/19\/april-polls-who-speaks-for-the-north\/"},"modified":"2011-03-19T00:08:55","modified_gmt":"2011-03-19T00:08:55","slug":"april-polls-who-speaks-for-the-north","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/19\/april-polls-who-speaks-for-the-north\/","title":{"rendered":"April polls: Who speaks for the North?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By\u00a0 Chioma Gabriel, Deputy Editor
Discordant tunes are rising from the North, distorting the once political homogeneity of that part of the country ahead of next month\u2019s elections, particularly the presidential race.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Abdulkadir and Tanko<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Facing President Goodluck Jonathan in the election are the likes of General Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, pioneer Chairman, EFCC, and Governor Ibrahim Shekarau (Kano).<\/p>\n

The once powerful Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, is sharply divided, its chairman, General Ibrahim Haruna having been sacked over his perceived support for President Goodluck Jonathan; while the recently formed Northern Political Leaders Forum, NPLF, appears unsteady after some of its members were taken in by the State Security Service, SSS, over alleged plot to \u201cpoison\u201d President Jonathan.<\/p>\n

A new group has since emerged, called Northern Stakeholders, which says NPLF should not be trusted.
Meanwhile, elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai says the North \u201chas not chosen anybody to speak for it.\u201d
NPLF yet to decide \u2014 Bello<\/p>\n

The Secretary General of NPLF, Mallam Abdulkadir-Bello says it is not true that the group has decided to throw in its lot with President Jonathan.<\/p>\n

Mallam Bello who was one of the NPLF members quizzed by the SSS said: \u201c The NPLF has not yet decided on whether to support Jonathan candidacy or not.<\/p>\n

The decision day by NPLF was the day I was arrested. But we would meet very soon on that. But seriously speaking, there could be 5th columnists either on our side or their side trying to disrupt whatever move either of\u00a0 the groups is trying to make.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s strange, baseless and ordinarily ,common sense would have\u00a0 revealed\u00a0 that some people are out to achieve an ulterior motive.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t trust NPLF,\u2013Northern Stakeholders Forum<\/p>\n

However, a member of the newly formed Northern Stakeholders Forum said: NPLF and Atiku want\u00a0 to enter an agreement with Jonathan which we in Northern Stakeholders Forum, are opposed to.<\/p>\n

Our aim is not to support Jonathan but to bring together all the progressive forces in the North. Our activities have\u00a0 seriously dented Adamu Ciroma whose wife is out there campaigning vigorously for Jonathan.<\/p>\n

Ciroma should not be pretending he is not supporting Jonathan when his wife is out there doing so. Why\u00a0 would Bibi Farouk want to kill Jonathan? Why would they want to\u00a0 do that and\u00a0 how?\u00a0 Does Jonathan go about drinking or eating anyhow ? They are trying to revive their legitimacy. That is why no group from the North\u00a0 is raising dust over the harassment of NPLF members.<\/p>\n

To us, the harassment was\u00a0 stage managed\u00a0 .<\/p>\n

\u201cOur group is against insulting Jonathan but our main agitation is for all presidential candidates from the North\u00a0 to step down for one candidate. It is either we have Buhari or\u00a0 Ribadu or\u00a0 Shekarau or John Dara even though the last two are\u00a0 not\u00a0 significant players\u00a0 because they\u00a0 do not pose any threat. John Dara, is an eloquent man but not a threat to any\u00a0 presidential candidate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis arrest is stage-managed, plotted\u00a0 to prepare ground\u00a0 to enter Jonathan\u2019s\u00a0 government. We pointed out the inconsistencies of\u00a0 Ciroma in the past . Ciroma has no electoral value and cannot deliver a ward.\u00a0 Even Jonathan has come to accept that fact.<\/p>\n

Arresting them is giving them credibility so as to pave the way for working with Jonathan. Why would they poison Jonathan? . It is an insult to our credibility.<\/p>\n

And come to think of it, no\u00a0 Northern group raised hell over these arrests and is that not telling you something?\u00a0 Something is fishy here.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t play politics in ACF \u2013 Aliko Mohammed, ACF Chairman<\/p>\n

Alhaji Aliko Mohammed who replaced IBM Haruna as Chairman, Arewa Consultative Forum says:
\u201cOur points in politics are well known and of course, we will prefer a Northern presidential candidate. We have three Northern presidential candidates in the persons of Buhari, Ribadu and Shekarau who are also members of ACF.<\/p>\n

The PDP has got theirs and in their constitution, they talked about zoning which they are not keeping. Sambo attended our meeting\u00a0 last week Tuesday like other members. We have not decided on any of the Northern presidential candidates.<\/p>\n

They are politicians and\u00a0 ACF is not about politics. ACF is not like\u00a0 NPLF which\u00a0 is a Northern political group led by Ciroma who is a member of PDP. ACF cannot speak on SSS arrest of NPLF members because they are politicians and members of\u00a0 PDP. It\u2019s not ACF\u2019s\u00a0 problem because they are not being hounded as members of ACF. It\u2019s a political issue and not a matter for ACF.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nobody is mandated to speak for the North \u2014 Yakassai<\/p>\n

Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, elderstatesman says nobody is mandated to speak for the North on presidency 2011.
\u201cThe North has not chosen anybody to speak for it. There are three people vying for this position and every one of them is sponsored by a political party that is made up of people who believe in its manifestoes. These people are national presidential candidates, not Northern political candidates.<\/p>\n

We have the NPLF who are people in the PDP who decided to set up a committee to pick one of them as a consensus presidential candidate. It was entirely a matter for PDP. The three candidates from the North are candidates of\u00a0 Nigeria and they are supported by their parties.<\/p>\n

Comments are moderated. Please keep them clean and brief.<\/p>\n

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\nApril polls: Who speaks for the North?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0 Chioma Gabriel, Deputy Editor Discordant tunes are rising from the North, distorting the once political homogeneity of that part of the country ahead of next month\u2019s elections, particularly the presidential race. Abdulkadir and Tanko Facing President Goodluck Jonathan in the election are the likes of General Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, pioneer Chairman, EFCC, and Governor Ibrahim Shekarau (Kano). The once powerful Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, is sharply divided, its chairman, General Ibrahim Haruna having been sacked over his perceived support for President Goodluck Jonathan; while the recently formed Northern Political Leaders Forum, NPLF, appears unsteady after some of its members were taken in by the State Security Service, SSS, over alleged plot to \u201cpoison\u201d President Jonathan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-321163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nApril polls: Who speaks for the North? - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/19\/april-polls-who-speaks-for-the-north\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"April polls: Who speaks for the North? - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"By\u00a0 Chioma Gabriel, Deputy Editor Discordant tunes are rising from the North, distorting the once political homogeneity of that part of the country ahead of next month\u2019s elections, particularly the presidential race. 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