The issue of who rules Nigeria in 2007 has generated a lot of controversy between North-ern governors and some of their counterparts from the South. Where does your organisation stand?
Well, the issue of who rules Nigeria in 2007 is not so much an issue to us but for power to shift to the North first and foremost. So, we are not talking about individuals but the concept of power shift from the South to the North and that is why we see the individuals and groups canva-ssing support for some candi-dates as wrong steps. The issue of candidates that should emerge from the North is therefore not our immediate concern. Let the power shift first.
But there is the argument that since the North has enjoyed power for a long time, power should still reside within the South in 2007.
It is undeniable that the North has the majority of this country’s voters and what happened even in 1991 and 2003 was the decision of the majority to concede power to the south in the spirit of power shift.
So you are opposed to another power shift to the South in 2007?
Exactly. The arrangement has been that power should return to the north by 2007 and I don’t think the South should ask for it again in 2007.
The argument in the South is that out of the 44years of independence, the North through the military ruled for 34 years…
The military rulers should not be mistaken for represent-atives of the North. They were on their own. So the North can only account for whatever Prime Minister Tafawa Bal-ewa or Shagari did. The rest were on their own since they were not voted in by Norther-ners they only took over power by force. So it is an error of judgement to assume that the North should be singled out for castigation over the misdeeds of dictat-orial regimes.
Now that three preside-ntial aspirants, namely Atiku, IBB and Marwa look set to emerge in 2007 electi-ons, do you see this as furthering the cause of power shift to the North which your organisation is advocating?
We actually do not sup-port recycling old hands, especially retired military men, neither do we support a recycling of civilians. We prefer that a Nigerian who has not enjoyed any political office – a new breed kind of presidential candidate who must emerge from the civil society. These three likely candidates have all tasted power and the civilian among them has equally tasted power. It is obvious that Nigerians are less likely to support their return to power in 2007. I think the retired generals among them should be given a break from active politics for some time. A full-blooded civilian will be better.
But campaigns are already in top gear for these candidates…
These campaigns are limited to groups and individuals and not political parties. There is no political party in this country that has declared any of the three its flag bearer for 2007. You see, the records of what these people did or did not do for the North are there. For instance, when the time comes, Northerners will ask Brigadier-General Buba Marwa (rtd), what he did for the North when he was in power. But he is reported to have been constructing boreholes in the South and collecting traditional titles there. We have not heard similar developments in the North. For Atiku and IBB, they too also need to prove beyond reasonable doubt that they did something tangible for the North. If you take IBB for example, he belongs to the same military rulers that Nigerians accuse of misappr-opriating the country’s resour-ces while in power. So, I see a contradiction in a situation where the same class of rulers we accuse of mismanaging the country become our choice candidates for the 2007 presidency. Don’t forget that we still today have the highest number of street beggars. Our industries in the North have almost all colla-psed. There is growing unem-ployment and so we want Northerners to think twice before rushing into campa-igns that are at best, ill-timed.
So many Northern youth groups are leading in the campaign for these three likely candidates…
The Northern Youth Forum does not belong to such a group of praise singers. We are not partisan but we believe that the country deserves good governance. There are other several decent youth groups in Nigeria that share our sentiments. We have met with many others from the south-south and they understand our position. Our goal is a consensus candidate and not a situation where one group will be campaigning for Mr. A while the other group campaigns for Mr. B and all from the same region.
Understandably, youths in the North have been used for too long for the sake of meagre amount of money. So, I advise youths in the North to refocus and bear in mind that as leaders of tomorrow, the North’s destiny is in their hands.
A prominent Northerner, Alhaji Wada Nas has been campaigning for an Igbo presidency in 2007, what is your reaction?
Well, I think he is doing so for selfish reasons. How do you reconcile his campaigns with recent threats by the same people for the break-up of Nigeria? Remember the MASSOB threat? So I think he has a personal interest to protect. Or he is simply courting cheap publicity.
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