The Southern Nigeria Frontier has lashed out at the Northern Elders Forum spokesperson, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed over a controversial statement he made concerning the 2023 presidential election.
Recall that Baba-Ahmed had boasted that Northern Nigeria has the voting population and would not play second fiddle in 2023.
Speaking at the maiden Maitama Sule lecture series organised by the students’ wing of the Coalition of Northern Groups, held at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, on Saturday, Baba-Ahmed had said, “We will lead Nigeria the way we have led Nigeria before; whether we are president or vice-president, we will lead Nigeria.”
Reacting to Baba-Ahmed’s comments, SNF in a statement by its spokesperson, Olufemi Lawson maintained that President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor in 2023 must come from the Southern part.
The statement read, “We are amazed, that the position of the Northern Elders Forum, is coming from no other person, than a Mauritanian first generation Nigerian, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed who now feels, that he is more Nigerian than the rest of us, and can as such, appropriate Nigeria’s Presidency at the discretion of the NEF.
“We wish to state unequivocally, that the position of the self-acclaimed Northern Elders’ Forum is not only an illusion by the NEF; the truth remains that Baba-Ahmed’s North will rule only its corner of the country continuously uninterrupted, and not our own Nigeria in general.
“While not willing to unnecessarily dignify the NEF, which has become famous as a group of crisis entrepreneurs, the SNF wishes to unequivocally state that the successor of President Muhammadu Buhari come 2023 must come from the Southern part of the country, this we remain, uncompromising about.
“If it is the wish of Baba-Ahmed and his NEF, to hold on to the leadership of Nigeria, as long as it desired, we must remind them, that they will only rule their corner of Nigeria and not the country as a whole.
“Perhaps the NEF is in desperate bid for forceful leadership and territorial control, we can without contestation, permit them to hold on to their territories that are speedily being lost to insurgency, occasioned by bad leadership in the North, particular in the Northwest, up to the stretch of Sambisa Forest, with the exception of the middle belt region, and we have no problem with that.
“It is only morally and conventionally right, that the next President of Nigeria should come from the Southern part of the country, this ordinarily should not be a subject of debate, except when such is being stirred by crisis entrepreneur like Baba-Ahmed and his NEF.
“As a people of the South, we will no longer watch the Northern Nigerians, reduce Nigeria to their private estate, and abuse power to the detriment of others. Therefore, after President Buhari’s second term which expires in 2023, the Presidency of Nigeria, must come back to the Southern part of the country.”