Emergence of Jonathan legally, morally wrong – ACF

By Emeka Mamah
KADUNA — The Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, said yesterday that the emergence of President Goodluck Jonathan as the PDP presidential candidate is legally and morally wrong, adding that the north must produce the next president.

A communiqué issued after a meeting of the National Working Committee of the ACF and signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Anthony Sani, said: “The emergence of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as its Presidential candidate is legally and morally wrong because it is a violation of that party’s constitution which clearly requires that, under the zoning/rotation formula, a northerner be returned as candidate in the 2011 general election. In this regard, and in the light of its principled stand on fairness and rule of law, the ACF rejects the outcome of the PDP presidential primaries.

“Following an extended review of the just concluded primary elections in the country, the meeting came to the conclusion that the process within most of the major political parties fell short of the expectations of Nigerians as they were thoroughly compromised by an appalling lack of internal democracy within the parties, manipulations, intimidation and other illegalities.

“These practices undermine our democracy and make it impossible for otherwise credible people to participate in the electoral process in the future… in the circumstance ACF calls upon all Nigerians who are eligible to vote to ensure that they get registered in order that they could elect candidates in accordance with their considered judgment and conscience.

“INEC should address all serious technical problems that have bedevilled the process so far and ensure that all Nigerians who wish to register are allowed to do so by all means, including extending the time.

“The meeting noted with deep regrets the current provocative sermons and preaching going on in some mosques and churches in parts of the north as well as the circulation of hate messages through text and other electronic media.

“ACF wishes to remind all northerners who are being misled into attacking fellow northerners because of differences in tribe or religion that they are working hand in gloves with evil minded people.

“The Forum urges all northerners to recall that they are members of the same family with the same fate and destiny and should remain together in this critical period.”

They should deny cheap victory to those seeking to divide them in order to rule them.

“The meeting further considered the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the country, which has already led to the near total breakdown of law and order in some states. ACF urges Mr. President, as the Chief Security officer of the nation to take stern measures to end the conflicts.

“Unwarranted delays and indecisions have allowed disturbances to fester and escalate, especially in the flashpoints of Plateau and Borno states. Failure to take timely actions in the past have made resort to the most drastic measures inevitable.

“Beyond this, ACF urges all citizens to step forward and to begin to rebuild trust, confidence and peace within their various communities. They must find a way to achieve true forgiveness and reconciliation as this is the only way to achieve true forgiveness and reconciliation as this is the only condition under which genuine peace and security can be sustained”.

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) yesterday failed to reach a consensus on who to support among the presidential aspirants from the north as crisis engulfed the group’s meeting on the issue.

The meeting which started at about 10 am at the Sokoto Road headquarters of ACF was rowdy as a section of its members tried remove the Chairman, Major_–Gen.IBM Haruna (rtd).

Sources at the meeting told newsmen that Haruna was accused of supporting President Goodluck Jonathan’s bid to contest the April 2011 presidential election.

The crisis within the northern socio_political organization is coming against the backdrop of warning by a member of the national executive committee of ACF,  Alhaji Ahmed Hassan Alghazali, that the country will break up if Jonathan goes ahead to contest and win the presidential polls.

It was said that when members of the ACF National Working Committee (NEC) met  with representatives of some presidential candidates from the various political parties, they reportedly demanded the immediate removal of Haruna who they said failed to attend various meetings of the group in the past where the contentious issue of zoning and presidential power shift came up for discussion.

The Vice President, Mohammed Namadi Sambo, was represented by Ambassador Hassan Adamu just as the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) presidential candidate, and Kano state Governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, was represented by his Commissioner for Lands and Survey, Alhaji Ahmed Ibrahim Yakkasai.

However, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, did not attend the meeting but he sent a message of solidarity to the ACF.

The sources said, “when the meeting commenced at about 10 am, some aggrieved members of ACF openly challenged the chairman, General Haruna of his anti_Arewa posture and moved the motion that he should be removed from office with immediate effect.

“The meeting became much tensed up when this issue came up and many members were asking for the head of the chairman who has not been attending meetings for almost six consecutive times in the past

“To make the matter worse, the former secretary of the Political committee, Alhaji Abdulrahman Muhammed, stood up to defend Haruna when he said that the agenda of the day was not to discuss the issue of the Chairman’s behaviour towards the Forum in the past and his anti_Arewa stance on national political issues.

“It took the wisdom of some of the elders to make sure that there was no pandemonium during the meeting, and they later suspended the discussion on General Haruna’s removal from office and faced the issue of the day.”

Alghazali who spoke with newsmen said that, “against our will, we allowed Obasanjo to contest the presidency in 1999 in order to allow the rotational presidency take root.

“When Obasanjo misruled this country for eight years and it came to our turn and these people turned blind eye and say no.
“If Jonathan is voted in the next presidential election, he will not vacate power; he will remain there and even work against the Nigerian Federation.

“He may even bring about the break up of this country as Sudan is presently going through. So, we will not allow this to happen.
“We cannot go for any other political parties because PDP rules this country whether by hook or crook.

“They control all the machinery. Nobody is going to any general election. There should not be any election because it is going to be a farce.

“We cannot continue like this because for everything there is a beginning and there is an end. This is the end of the fraud in Nigeria.
“The only option now is for them to extend time for the election and go back to the normal primary election system whereby members of political parties are allowed to decide candidates to vote. PDP did not have any primaries at all.

“There may be no Nigeria after this election and I hope it does not take place.”