By Emeka Mamah

KADUNA — The Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, yesterday, said that there was no going back in its efforts to ensure that the North produces the president in 2011.

ACF said that this clarification was imperative because the Forum was primarily established to cater for the interest of the North and anything that affects its people.

National Publicity Secretary of the forum, Anthony Sani, made this known during the inauguration of the Kaduna State chapter of the association, noting that Nigeria was almost turning into a one party state as anybody or zone which was interested in producing the next president now wanted to know what was happening in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

“Since they wanted zoning and they are our own people and the zoning is not against Northern interest we have no basis whatsoever to go against it because it is in our interest.

“So what we want is that if all the political parties have all their candidates from the North the final outcome will be that of Olusegun Obasanjo and Olu Falae in 1999; it will be a family affair.

“When we came to that decision (that all political parties should field Northerners as presidential candidates in 2011), people thought that we just came to that decision like that, they do not know that we actually thought about it seriously. “So I am pleading with you that we are now in this forum to find a way of coming together so that all our decisions can be one.

“The other issue that has been engaging our attention is whether the ACF has been partisan or not, for example in the past there has been politics of resource control, there has been politics of Federal Character and a lot of issues.

“These issues are not partisan, there was the issue of third term and it is not partisan, now people say because we are not partisan that we cannot take political decisions but we normally take positions when it comes to political issues that affect the North.

“I know some people will ask why you people said you wanted zoning, that it is a PDP affair, our answer is that at the moment if you want to get power you cannot ignore the PDP, you cannot ignore the character of the presidential candidates.

“Nigeria is almost becoming a one party state and you want us to close our eyes to what is happening in such a party.

“Let me tell you, when they (PDP) were selling their forms, the party was able to raise N4 billion from just selling forms; you can see now that this is a party that can raise N4 billion from forms so it gives you the idea about the political party and why everybody is going there,” Sani said.

Also, the ACF’s National Secretary and Chairman of the occasion, Col. Musa Shehu (rtd), stressed the need for all the state chapters of ACF to work with the national body to realise the objectives of the forum.