North must claim presidency in 2015, says Ango Abdullahi

By The Nation Newspaper

The North on Tuesday gave an indication of a heated Presidential race in 2015 saying that either through rotation or its population, it will take back the Presidency from President Jonathan.

Secretary of the Northern Elders Forum and Former Special Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo on Food Security, Prof. Ango Abdullahi told newsmen in Kaduna that the various groups in the region were already working together to ensure that power return to the north in 2015.

He also said that former President Olusegun Obasanjo begged the north to allow him have a second term since the original arrangement for rotational presidency did not include having two terms, adding that the north had to allow Obasanjo to serve two terms in line with the constitutional provisions.

Prof. Abdullahi said that if the north cannot claim the Presidency through rotation, it intends to do so relying on its massive population, adding that based on population alone, the north can hold on to power in the country for as long as they wish to do so.

He said “I want to make it absolutely clear to you that the ACF and all these other groups that have emerged in the recent past are committed to the interest that underlies northern interest. There is no question about that.

“The north is determined and is insisting that the leadership of the country will rotate to it in 2015 and I am making that very clear to you. On behalf of all of us, ACF in front because they have been the oldest group and the Middle Belt Forum (MBF) and our other groups that have been very active and strong.

“All of us are likely to have this very tough and common agenda. Not that the north and power blind, no, it will be argued on the rational argument that are on ground today. The north on the basis of one man, one vote can keep power indefinitely in the present Nigeria state,” Abdullahi stated.

“If it is on the basis of one man, one vote, the demography shows that the north can keep power as long as it wants because it will always win elections”.

The former Vice Chancellor noted that the issue of rotational presidency between the North and South was accepted many years ago at the 1987 Political Reform Conference, where it was resolved that every part of the country should be part of the leadership.

He said that the north has always made sacrifices in the course in the interest f the country, adding that “some of us who participated in conferences- constitutional conferences from 1987 until the last one- the Political Reform Conference, it was accepted that every part of this country should feel part of the leadership and these are the basis of the acceptance of the rotation between the north and the south