Emameh Gabriel in Abuja
Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has described remarks by the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) over a recent statement on the 2023 presidency by the Governor of Ondo State and Chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum, Rotimi Akeredolu, as “irrational and delusional”.
The coalition had in a statement on Thursday described Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, as a big threat to democracy in Nigeria following his comments that any party who fields a Northern candidate for the presidency in 2023 would lose the election.
Akeredolu had while receiving members of the Power Rotation Movement (PRM) in his office in Akure on Tuesday, reiterated the need for parties to field Southern candidates, insisting that it was the turn of the South to produce the next Nigerian President.
PANDEF in reaction to the attack on Governor Akeredolu, insisted on its position on power shift and restated the resolution of the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum at its meeting of January 13, 2022, that any political party that fields a Northern candidate should not count on the support of the four regions in the 2023 presidential election.
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Ken Robinson, the group said it wondered “Why is it difficult for people to accept the truth,” adding “it is simply unthinkable that anyone would consider another Northern presidency after President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years.”
Robinson said organisations like the so-called Coalition of Northern Groups seem incorrigibly apathetic about the peace, unity and stability of Nigeria.
According to PANDEF, “They have, by their utterances, presented themselves as assemblages of unpatriotic individuals, who, perhaps, benefit from the inglorious goings-on in the country.
“PANDEF urges these groups to strive to appreciate the true tenets of democracy and stop the hallucination. The North should not and cannot retain Nigeria’s presidency beyond 29th May 2023, in the interest of national harmony.
“Defining the just and rightful demands for zoning and power rotation as threats and blackmail is a logical fallacy. Nobody is threatening nor attempting to intimidate anyone; the South, and other patriotic Nigerians who are concerned about the future of Nigeria, are simply insisting that the fundamental principles of fairness, justice and equity must be respected and upheld in the power equation of Nigeria.
“Let’s remind the said Coalition of Northern Groups and their sympathisers that the appropriation of rights by any section of the country must be measured against the rights of the others. Undoubtedly, no group or section of Nigeria can arrogate to itself or colonise the presidency of Nigeria.”
