Some select Northern elders and leaders are billed to engage six presidential candidates on what they will do for the region and Nigeria if they happen to win the presidential election in 2023.
The Secretary of the Arewa Joint Committee, Alh Abubakar Gambo Umar disclosed this, Wednesday in Kaduna.
Alh Abubakar Gambo said members of the joint committee comprise Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation (ABMF), Jamiyyar Matan Arewa (JMA), Arewa House Centre for Historical Research (AHCHR), and Arewa Research and Documentation Project (ARDP) will engage the candidates.
Those invited are Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP) Peter Obi of Labour Party (LP) Kola Abiola of People’s Redemption Party (PRP) and Adewole Adebayo of Social Democratic Party (SDP).
According to Umar, the engagement will start from 15th to 17th, October, 2022.
“In the last few weeks, the number of above key Northern groups, under the umbrella of Arewa Joint Committee, have collaborated to engage presidential candidates, an activity that is unprecedented in our political history.
Commenting further he said, “Together, we have pooled our energy, commitments in the interests of the North and Nigeria and other resources to engage some Presidential Candidates of political parties who seek the mandate of Nigerians to govern from May 29th, 2023.
“The engagements will start on Saturday, 15th, and conclude on the 17th of October, 2023. The Candidates who will interact with a select group of leaders and elders from across the North will be those of the APC, NNPP, PDP, PRP, LP and SDP. It is likely that other Candidates will be invited at a later date.
He commended the candidates and the parties for agreeing to participate in the engagement.
“We are grateful to the candidates and parties who have agreed to participate in these engagements. The goals of the engagements are basically to improve the understanding of Presidential candidates over issues that are central to the interests of the North as we embark on the defining search for good leaders that should emerge in 2023,”
The Northern leader noted that this was in given the state of the North, particularly in terms of its security, economy and infrastructure.
According to him, the preparation of its young to become responsible and productive adults; its relationship with the rest of Nigeria; the critical need for good, effective and inspirational leadership and possible changes in the structures and systems of governance to make them more effective, our need to exercise vigilance over who assumes responsibility over our security and progress prompted the engagement.
“These engagements have become necessary to avoid mistakes of the past when leaders emerged with no popular inputs into their plans and programmes, and with virtually no efforts to interrogate their capacities and vision if they became leaders.
“We also expect that Candidates will share with us their own plans and visions, not just for the North, but for the country as a whole.
“Our hope is that these engagements will serve a major goal of affording Candidates an opportunity to share ideas and perspectives with a critical segment of the North, submit to the values of accountability and enlist the North in their quest for leadership in 2023.
“This initiative will be part of a series of steps we will take to improve our understanding of which candidate is best prepared to lead the country and address our key challenges and aspirations in the North.
“We will follow Candidates as they campaign, and we will encourage citizens and groups to subject them to critical scrutiny.
“If it becomes necessary to undertake an overall assessment of the candidates and advise voters who will benefit from our opinions, we will do so, strictly on the basis of the interests of the North and the nation. In the meantime, we will provide a level playing field for all candidates.”
