2023: Northern Elders Hit Out At Southern Governors For Zoning Presidency

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2023: Northern Elders Hit Out At Southern Governors For Zoning Presidency

The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has criticized the stance taken by the Southern Governors, that the South should produce the next president of Nigeria in 2023.

The Forum made it clear the North would not be forced into yielding a democratically elected office.

NEF through Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, its Director of Publicity and Advocacy, observed that as far as the North was concerned, the idea that it would be indirectly threatened or intimidated or blackmailed into yielding an office which ought to be settled democratically is not acceptable.

The Forum sees the decision of the southern governors as an expression of sentiment that could be best discussed within a political process.

According to NEF,

“We are running a democratic government and decisions over where the next president comes from are basically decisions that will be made by voters exercising their rights to choose which candidate best serves their interest.”

Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed explained that the southern governors come from the two dominant parties: APC and PDP, saying that they must have some influence in those parties.

He noted that the way it should be done was that the southern governors should influence their parties to zone the presidency to southern states and then work to convince Nigerian voters from all parts of the country to vote for that candidate.