Northern Youths Okay Marwa, Muazu, Others
Tip Odili, Nnamani, Anyaoku for VP _Igbo 'll present common candidate - Egwu
From Agaju Madugba in Kaduna and Joseph Ushigiale in Lagos
The scheming for which candidate and from which zone will occupy the presidential slot in 2007 took a new dimension as a coalition of several youth organisations in the three geo-political zones in the North yesterday announced a list of four contenders who they believe are possible successors to President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Also yesterday, Governor Sam Egwu of Ebonyi State said the South-east zone is prepared to back and present a single candidate for the presidency.
The coalition named Northern Youth Leaders Forum (NYLF) selected former Lagos State military administrator, Brig. General Mohammed Buba Marwa, incumbent governors of Nasarawa and Bauchi states, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu and Alhaji Adamu Muazu respectively as well as Senator Jubril Aminu as their choice for the 2007 presidency.
Speaking at a press conference in Kaduna after a national executive council meeting, Mr. Elliot Afiyo and Alhaji Adamu Musa, Chairman and General Secretary of the NYLF respectively announced the names of four southerners they will support for the vice president slot.
They are Governors Peter Odili (Rivers), Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu) and Obong Victor Attah (Akwa Ibom). Also included in the list are former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku and Presidential Adviser on Inter-party Relations, Chief Rochas Okorocha.
The coalition which boasts of 72 affiliate organisations resolved that it would not support Vice President Atiku Abubakar, All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) presidential candidate in 2003 polls, Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and former military president Gen. Ibrahim Babangida for the position of the president in 2007.
The coalition explained that the choice of the candidates was based on their past records, intellectual capability, general acceptability, detribalised dispositions as well as what the group described as their representation of northern interest.
Seventeen national officers of the NYLF as well as about 72 affiliate organisations attended the meeting. Also delegates from the Igbo Youth Assembly and the Niger Delta Youth Consultative Forum, were present as observers.
The coalition described as unnecessary, the current debate regarding which zone of the country will produce the president in 2007. It argued that, "there was an agreement that the presidency should rotate between the North and the South."
"A nine-member committee has been set up to screen and prune the number of candidates to three each (president and vice president) and present same to the general congress during its delegates conference scheduled for October 2004.
The four candidates selected by the group come from the North-central and the North-east zones. Marwa and Aminu are from Adamawa State in the North-east zone while Muazu is from Bauchi State also in the North-east zone. Adamu is the only one from North-central.
Also, three of the people chosen for the vice presidential slot are from the South-east zone while only Odili is from the South-south.
Prominent northern politicians and their counterparts from the South-east zone have been trading words over which zone should produce the next president. While the northern politicians believe the presidency should go Northward in the spirit of power rotation, the South-east politicians say rotation is between the six-geo-political zones and not between North and South.
Governor Egwu, at the inaugural memorial lecture entitled "Democracy and Responsive-ness: The Socio-Contractual Interface," organised by the Lagos State University (LASU) branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in honour of the late Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, said "it is only fair that the Igbo people be supported for the presidency in an atmosphere of accommodation and democracy."
He said contrary to the cacophony of voices and the disunity that were the bane of politicians in the South-east zone in the past, "this time around, Ndigbo is united and will have a consensus candidate for the 2007 presidential race."
"The feeling in the South-east is that given the commitment and selfless service to the country and the thinking that the zone has never had a shot at the presidency, all we are asking every Nigerian is to be fair and for equity sake, the zone should produce the next president," said Egwu, who was represented by his deputy, Dr. Chigozie Ogbu.
He said although the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would have a crucial role to play in deciding which zone produces the next president, a decision which the zone is ready to accept, he, however, added "for equity and fairness sake, let's have it."
Egwu maintained that "whether on the basis of the current six geo-political zonal arrangement or on the basis of the former three regional structure, the Igbo race has never produced a president of Nigeria."
According to him, "apart from the sacrifices and towering contributions of the Igbo of this country, after the indigenes of that state, the Igbo are the next in terms of population. For a people who are so passionate in their conviction about the oneness of Nigeria that they are so widely dispersed in it, it is only fair that they be supported to produce the next president of the country in an atmosphere of democracy and accommodation."
He acknowledged that sovereignty lies with the people and that those who hold power derive their mandate from the people. He added that by delegating power to leaders or institution, the people are doing so on the condition that their needs and aspirations will dictate the direction of public policy.
Egwu described the country's democracy as an institution in transition, and that for it to survive, the people and government need absolute commitment. He added that "to guarantee this, the tree of social justice must continually be watered through the vehicles of civil liberties, national accommodation, administrative inclusion and responsiveness to the needs and aspirations of the people."
While describing the late Abiola as an embodiment of humanitarian service to mankind, and that his philantropy reached out to the poor, touched on education, sports, politics and health, he noted that the late politician's contributions were "unequaled in the history of Nigeria".
He noted that "his (Abiola's) life ennobled the black race. If any black man harboured an incurable passion for the cause of the black race and its unmitigated nobility, identity and greatness, it was Abiola. He was irrevocably committed to the redressing of the monumental and pathological racial hatred and injustice perpetrated against blacks during the obnoxious slave trade period."
Egwu said Abiola " was the apostle of reparation for Africa from the western world that plundered our human and material resources to enrich their countries. It was this irredeemable and overwhelming passion and commitment to the cause of the people that impelled him to go into politics. His entry into politics gave birth to our nascent democracy which has provided a platform for greatest service to our people."
Egwu pointed out that the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections, remained a source of outrage to the country and the world at large.
"The victory was unique and remarkable in its source which cut across all the divide in this country - geographic, ethnic, religious, political. Only a man with the character of Chief Abiola could achieve that feat."
He noted that although June 12 has become history, "the most enduring issue connected with the controversy has to do with the sanctity of election, which is the epicenter of true democracy."
According to him, "when elections are not free and fair, the result is that service delivery will be adversely affected owing to crisis of credibility on the part of the functionaries in public office. Without a free and fair election, no society can genuinely lay claim to democratic practice."
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