From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna
Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has admonished Nigerians on the need to accept the principle of power rotation between the North and the South.
The ACF Secretary General, Murtala Aliyu, in a statement issued in Kaduna, said it is the only way in ensuring that Nigerian citizens choose whatever he or she believes to be in the best interests of themselves and their followers.
He recalled, “When 17 State Governors from Southern part of Nigeria, and from different political parties met last year and demanded that a southerner must be elected as the president of Nigeria, the heavens did not fall. It was accepted that as we are in a democracy, they were entitled to their views and opinions.
“Quite recently also, some 14 northern Governors belonging to the ruling All progressives Congress Party, (APC), came out with the announcement that they had committed themselves to ensuring that a candidate of their party from the southern part of the country is elected president of the country. Their reason was that the emergence and subsequent election of a person from the southern part of the country will serve to entrench the principle of North/South power rotation in Nigeria.
“Though the principle of power rotation is still largely and somewhat controversial, nonetheless, under our democratic dispensation we must reconcile ourselves to accepting that Nigeria is a country for all its citizens, and each citizen has right to choose whatever he or she believes to be in the best interests of themselves and their followers. At the same time, however, they also have to accept the principle of power rotation between north and south.”
While praying for a peaceful outcome of the elections, he hoped it will help take the country closer to its main development goals of building a free, just, democratic, and egalitarian society saying, “Clearly, the necessary requirement for achieving success in the elections is the determination of Nigerians to ensure it actually succeeds.”
He called on the federal government to commit itself to delivering what should turn out to be a fair, transparent, credible and hitch-free election the outcomes of which must be decided only by the votes cast.
