You’re Cowards, Betrayers For Supporting Southern Presidential Candidate— Northern Groups Lambast Region’s APC Governors
THE Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has expressed displeasure with the Northern Governors in the All Progressives Congress (APC) for “their late-minute concession of the right of northerners to seek party’s presidential ticket, describing it as treacherous.
On Saturday, the APC Northern Governors Forum, in a statement, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to pick a Southern aspirant as his successor.
The governors who signed the statement include Bello Masari, Katsina; Nasir El-Rufai, Kaduna; Atiku Bagudu, Kebbi; Simon Lalong, Plateau; Abdullahi Ganduje, Kano; Bello Matawalle, Zamfara; Inuwa Yahaya, Gombe; Babagana Zulum, Borno; Sani Bello, Niger; and Abdullahi Sule, Nasarawa.
The statement by the governors had partly read, “We, therefore, wish to strongly recommend to President Muhammadu Buhari that the search for a successor as the APC’s presidential candidate be limited to our compatriots from the southern states.
“We appeal to all aspirants from the northern states to withdraw in the national interest and allow only the aspirants from the south to proceed to the primaries…”
However, reacting in a statement on Sunday, the CNG described the action of the Northern governors as treachery and abuse of privilege.
“For the APC governors from the North to take such a weighty decision at the expense of the collective interest and future of the North, amounts to arbitrary treachery and blatant abuse of privilege,” the CNG said in a statement by its Spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman.
The group further said the decision was also clearly a brazen breach of the standard democratic practice by the selfish Northern governors who see power as an end in itself.
“The move, aimed mainly at serving the vice-presidential ambitions of the state governors without minding its unforeseen consequences on the future of the larger population of the North, is not only undemocratic but a betrayal of the region’s past leaders who toiled and paid with their lives to ensure a strong, prosperous region.
“It also points to a cowardly cave-in by those who pose as Northern leaders today to the threats, intimidation and blackmail of the southern political elites.
“This act of treachery and betrayal shall certainly not go unnoticed and in the fullness of time, the governors would be called to account for the consequences of their selfish compromise by this and coming generations of northerners,” Suleiman added.