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Last Updated: Thursday, December 2nd, 2004
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Atiku, IBB boycott Arewa summit
By Sukuji Bakoji,
Bureau Chief, Kaduna
Femi Oyelola,
Special Correspondent, Kaduna
The political rivalry and jostle for the 2007 presidential ticket came into play on Wednesday as major key players
from the north; Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, former military president, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (rtd)
and former Minister of Defence, Lt-General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd) shunned the much publicised Northern
Peace Summit.
Besides, the Summit also kicked off amidst discordant voices and disenchantment, even as massive boycott by indigenes
of the Middle Belt and members of the civil society organisations was obvious.
The two-day Summit planned by the Northern Governors Forum was meant to identify the causes of crises in the North
with a view to sensitising Northerners on the harmful effects of such crises and seeking ways of uniting the leaders
and their diverse ethnic nationalities.
However, the trio of Atiku, IBB and Danjuma believed to be the major factors to be reckoned with in the political
landscape in the North were absent at the event, a situation that sent dangerous signal that the summit may not
achieve the desired goal.
Former head of state and presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Major General Muhammadu
Buhari (rtd) did not hide his disdain over the attitude of some of the invitees and the Northern leaders in particular
and the ugly development in the region in general when he took a swipe at the governors, describing their performance
as woeful.
Said he, �if you cannot manage the economy, you are bound to fail; not even immediately; you will fail after you
have left office even more.�
Also, Catholic Archbishop of Kaduna Archdiocese, Most Rev. (Dr.) Peter Jatau who is chairman of the Christian Association
of Nigeria (CAN) in charge of the 19 Northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja blamed the
disunity and ethno-religious crises in the North on the door-steps of the northern governors.
Jatau, who was represented by the chairman, Kaduna State Chapter of CAN and Catholic Bishop of Kafanchan Diocese,
Rt. Rev. (Dr.) Joseph Bagobiri accused northern leaders of poverty of ideas in decision and policy making , religious
discrimination and blatant favouritism, noting that they inherited some of the features from the military regime.
His words, ��all problems identified predate the return to civil rule; we are not unaware that certain policy decisions
undertaken by the states chief executives have exacerbated or ameliorated this tension.
�We don�t need to restate the fact that religion has both the force for peace and violence among nations overtime.
�When government resorts to blatant favouritism and devices its strategies in cheating various religions, naturally,
the vision and understanding become fraudulent and religion gets a bad name.�
However, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Maccido enjoined participants to get their acts together to ensure
peaceful co-existence in the North, commending the concerted efforts of the Northern Governors Forum for convening
the Peace Summit.
Earlier in his welcome speech, the chairman of the forum and governor of Jigawa state, Alhaji Saminu Turaki pledged
that resolutions and agreements reached will be passed over to the 19 Northern states governors for implementation.
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