Prior to the 2023 presidential election, the Arewa Joint Committee has indicated that it will publish the commitments of the presidential candidates with whom it has contact. It has emphasized that this was not an endorsement of any one candidate.
The Arewa Joint Committee is made up of the Jamiyyar Matan Arewa, Arewa House (Centre for Historical Development and Research), Northern Elders Forum, Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation, and Arewa Consultative Forum, according to Anaedoonline.ng.
The presidential candidates from the Labour Party, Peter Obi, the Peoples Redemption Party, Kola Abiola, the Social Democratic Party, Adewole Adebayo, the People’s Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and the New Nigeria People’s Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso were all invited to the interactive meeting.
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Kwankwaso, however, declined to participate in the discussion, claiming that the Joint Committee had already endorsed a candidate for president.
The joint committee chairman and secretary general of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Mallam Murtala Aliyu, had a press conference in Kaduna on Tuesday. He said that the activity was part of a strategy to get candidates to pledge to deal with the problems facing the region.
The committee chairman added, “We are grateful to the candidates who honoured our invitation and who showed respect to public opinion and the Nigerian voters by submitting themselves to the most intimate scrutiny by northern elders and other groups, the media and the public.
“These interactions, the first of their type in the history of our country, have been a tremendous success. First, they demonstrated the strong bonds of unity of the people of the North, represented by the collaborating groups and our unquestioning commitment to the search for the best quality of leadership among the many candidates who want our support.
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“Second, they showed a commendable level of respect for the democratic process by the candidates who submitted to the process.
“Third, they afforded Nigerians a rare opportunity to see and hear candidates speak about their plans and vision.
“Four, they helped to focus attention on the peculiar and shared problems and challenges of the North and scrutinise the levels of understanding and sympathy for them among the candidates.
“Finally, they raised the bar in our search for leadership that respects accountability and competence.
“These interactions, in themselves, were not planned to endorse a candidate. They are part of a longer process that plans to generate commitments to address the challenges of the North by candidates and that covers a substantial part of the campaigning period.
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“We plan to extract and publish these commitments, so that Nigerians may measure and evaluate candidates against them. Our goal is to allow citizens to match candidates against their commitments to matters that are central to the interests of the North.
“Until the elections in February 2023, the North will be challenged to raise its vigilance over all electoral activities. We must prioritise evidence of competence, integrity, quality of preparation, and commitment to address the challenges of the North among candidates.”
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