The organisation urged prospective candidates of northern extraction to pick consensus candidates among themselves.
This was just as the northern elders warned against any interference from any quarters, insisting that the independence of the legislative arm should be respected and “allowed members to choose their leaders.”
The NEF Director, Publicity and Advocacy, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, spoke virtually in Kaduna on Thursday at a one-day Colloquium organised by Democratic Watch Initiative under the chairmanship of former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki.
The colloquium had, as its titled, “Inclusive Participation for Sustainable Democracy.”
Baba-Ahmed, a former secretary of the Independent National Electoral Commission, recalled that the region produced the highest votes for most of the political parties in the last general elections in the country.
He also lists the qualities any candidate of northern extraction must possess for the topmost seats at the 10th National Assembly, noting that “the North does not want just any legislator from the North to become Speaker.”
He, however, added that such a candidate should have the “highest personal integrity and a good idea of how his position can help him,” while adding that the “same thing should be done at Senate level.”
Baba-Ahmed said, “That is how politics is played. The North does not want just any legislator from the North to become Speaker.
“We should hope that he has the highest personal integrity and a good idea of how his position can help him. All of them contesting should submit to a process by which their fellow contestants nominate them and then support them.
“The same thing should be done at the Senate level. If those who know each other better than us cannot decide who will serve our interests as Northerners best, then we stop campaigning for all of them. We do not want legislators who want to be in positions of power to fulfil personal ambitions.
“The northern voter has done his job. Some voted because of convictions over the qualities of candidates, some because they were induced; some along faith lines and others along party lines.
“The result was that the North was the only region that gave all the candidates huge votes, indeed, they made the difference in terms of who became elected at presidential levels. Individuals and groups lobbying for positions for northern legislators should be conscious of a number of things.
“First, the best thing is to respect the independence of the legislature and allow members to choose their leaders.
“Elected legislatures waiting for final verdicts from the courts who are lobbying groups and members of the public to be elected by colleagues or President-elect forget that if successful, they will be leading legislature.
“Groups which lobby Tinubu for ‘theirs’, should know they will pay a price in the long run.”
