The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has once again berated the Southern Governors for demanding that the 2023 presidency be zoned to the South.
The forum stated that the threats and intimidation of the governors would not change the minds of Northerns regarding zoning.
The Spokesman of the forum, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, stated these while speaking at a press conference in Kaduna on Tuesday.
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According to Baba-Ahmed, the demand by the southern governors is unconstitutional and reckless, adding that the leaders constitute a threat to the nation’s democracy.
The NEF spokesman added that any president to be elected should be done democratically and not by unnecessary expressions like ‘presidency must move here or there’.
He, however, appreciated Northern governors for rejecting rotation of the 2023 Presidency to the south and their opinion on the Value Added Tax (VAT) and the controversy surrounding it.
He said, “We had raised the issues two weeks ago, but we are happy that the Northern Governors have also spoken out that. Rotational presidency is not located in the constitution of Nigeria, but this does not make it illegal, or only means that it can only be handled at the political level.
“We drew attention to the fact that there are tendencies the 17 Governors of the South to gang up and create a bi-partisan assault against the North on virtually all issues from open grazing, rotational presidency and other issues.
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“The Southern Governors represent a serious threat to the democratic process. What the democratic process recognises is that there are political parties, there are candidates and there are voters. Whoever emerges as the candidate should be the product of negotiation and expression of popular will.
“There can be a Southern president; there can be a Northern president and nobody should build boundaries around which region produces the President. What is important is that it must be a committed and a very competent Nigerian; a Nigerian everybody can identify with and not a product of region, religion or tribe.”
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