A coalition of 45 Civil Society Organisations drawn from the 19 northern states and Abuja, kicked against northern presidential candidates and pledged support for southern presidency in 2023.
The CSOs, under the aegis of the Arewa Concerned Civil Society Organization of Nigeria, threatened to work against northern presidential candidates, stating that for equity, justice, and transparency sake, a southerner must succeed the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari(retd.) after his tenure.
The spokesperson for the group, Abdulsalam Mohammed-Kazeem, who read the text of a world press conference titled, ‘state of the nation: 2023 Presidency; though our tongue and languages might differ; in unity and brotherhood we stand,’ held at the Arewa House, Kaduna on Wednesday, warned political parties against fielding any northern candidate for the 2023 presidency.
Kazeem called on all the political parties to zone their presidential candidates to the southern part of the country just to sustain the age-long “political friendship” with southerners.
He explained that for the past decades that political power had been in the north, the region had not fared better except for poverty, banditry and terrorism.
The spokesperson said, “the Concerned Arewa Civil Society Organisations of Nigerian is a group of over 45 reputable Civil Society groups from within the Northern extraction with voting capacity cut across all the polling units, wards and Local Government Areas in the 19 Northern states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“There is wise saying “what is good for the goose is good for the gander.” It’s important, though it’s not law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, we have to respect our integration, brotherhood and unity.
“It’s for the sake of our national unity that we are standing today and declaring that power should be rotated to South for the spirit of oneness, equity, justice, fairness and equal opportunities.
“We urge all political parties to zone their Presidential candidates to the south. Any party that refuses to do so, we are going to mobilized our teaming youth and campaign against it.
“We, the Arewa Concerned Civil Society Organizations of Nigeria, in the spirit of building our desired nation and our continued existence as an entity, also not jettisoning the principles of power balance and fairness, call for the total support of presidency to the southern part of the country.”
He added, “we have no other country than Nigeria and we will not sit down and see our country disintegrate due to the selfish desires of some individuals that think presidency is the birth right of a particular region. Any Northerner contesting President will be regarded as agent of disunity and enemy of the nation.
“The South-West which is also a beneficiary of the benevolence of Nigerians who supported their first bid for an eight-year presidency and vice-presidency for another 8 years should also be willing to relinquish the position in the spirit togetherness and nation building.
“Our hope, dreams and prayers are for an Igbo man to emerge as President in 2023, more preferably, a private sector player, a technocrat and a de-tribalized Nigerian with rich experience in managing economy for peace, progress and prosperity.
“We have agreed to melt their interest in one port and insist on power to be transferred to Southern Part of the Country in 2023 and we call on our Southern people to drive this opportunity and support their own and also respect power rotation after 8 years.
‘We reaffirmed our previous stand that we won’t support any Northerner as Successor of President Mohammed Buhari in 2023 for the sake of National Unity.
“We know power comes from God and God never allow injustice, greed and selfishness to rule our land. We will make or mar any candidate who has the unity of Nigeria at heart and vice versa.”
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