The Convener of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Professor Ango Abdullahi, has said there is nothing wrong if another Northerner should succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
In an interview with The Sun on Friday, Abdullahi argued that the country’s laws do not oppose a particular region producing the President back to back.
The NEF leader stated that competency and capacity should be considered before electing the next President in 2023 and not sentiments or bias.
Abdullahi asserted that campaigns restricting a person from a region from succeeding another would continue to divide the country and cause apprehension.
He said; “There is no law that l know of that you can associate with the constitution of Nigeria whether l have a right to contest for an election at any time; whether l have a right to vote at anytime.
“So all this talk about a northerner has just finished, a Nigerian had just finished and another Nigerian, whether from the desert or from the lagoon, could come forward. If he is a good material, everybody should vote for him. This is what we said in our various advocacy discussions.
“There is no law stopping me from contesting election unless that law for example in the constitution which says that l cannot run for president beyond eight years continuously. That one l know, but there is nowhere it says l cannot run for president because my brother, sibling – and l am talking here about blood brother – was President or somebody coming from my village has become President before, or from my town or from my area. The legal system does not speak about that.
“These are some of the problems we have in the country today. We don’t seem to really respect rules and regulations that should bring all of us to understand where we are in terms of difficulties, in terms of efforts to correct things.
“But now, when you insist that another northerner, no matter how qualified, cannot offer himself for election, this is denying him a right which is guaranteed in the constitution and you are making emotive campaigns that such a person should not be voted for in certain areas of this country. That is actually dividing the country and this will not take us anywhere.”
