Yesterday the Arewa Consultative Forum, a body of people which had always maintained that it is politically neutral, released a communiqué rejecting the outcome of the Presidential Contest of the PDP which produced President Goodluck Jonathan as the winner. The Forum observed that the emergence of Dr. Jonathan as PDP Presidential candidate is legally and morally wrong because it is a violation of that Party’s constitution which clearly requires that by the zoning and rotation formula, a northerner must be returned as candidate in the 2011 general elections. In this regard, and in accordance with its own self- proclaimed principled stand on fairness and the rule of law, the forum said it rejected the outcome of the Primaries. The Forum also condemned the total absence of internal democracy in most of the major political parties, and the widespread evidence of manipulation, intimidation and other illegalities. The Forum warned that these practices will greatly undermine our democracy and make it almost impossible for otherwise credible people to participate in the electoral process in future. Finally, the Forum expressed its concerns over the current provocative sermons and preaching going on in some mosques and churches in parts of the North as well as the circulation of hate messages through texts and other electronic media.
The Forum’s rejection of the outcome of the PDP Convention is belated, irrelevant and even more damaging to the interest of the North. If the Forum had any influence over political affairs in the North, or sufficient concern over its political fortunes, or the required levels of unity to act as a pressure group, it should have acted well before the PDP Convention, to warn PDP Governor’s not to support President Jonathan. To come out weeks after the North was humiliated by its own Governors to condemn a development over which the Forum itself has long been divided simply shows that the ACF has lost focus and relevance. If the ACF is attempting to play to the gallery, by tapping into the anger of many Northerners over the outcome of the PDP Presidential contest, the Northern public will not be fooled. It has been an open secret that the ACF has been divided over this issue itself. This will explain why it was unable to bring any pressure to bear on PDP Governors and Delegates to support Atiku Abubakar, and not President Jonathan. This will explain its long silence since the conclusion of the Convention. This will explain why it does not specifically condemn PDP Governors for voting against the principle of zoning and rotation. Instead, it condemns the outcome of a process which clearly was the making of Northerners, led by Governors.
The ACF would have served the interest of the Northern if it had kept mute over the PDP Presidential contest. As it is, its belated statement has merely exposed the weaknesses and political poverty of the North. Now it is clear for all to see that the Northern political elite is more divided than ever. Those elites in the ACF are condemning the action of Northern Governors, who in reality are the architects of Jonathan victory over Atiku. All three political parties in the opposition, that is, the CPC, ACN and the ANPP are fielding Northern candidates, and all efforts so far to get them to yield ground to one or two of them have proved fruitless. This means that the North will most likely present three Presidential candidates against one from the South. Northerners have not seen any efforts on the part of the ACF to broker some type of understanding among these Northern contenders a development which will almost certainly result in the victory of President Jonathan.
The tragedy for Northern Nigeria today is that it has no leaders with the political clout and prestige to protect its interest. All the self-appointed leaders who claim to speak or act on its behalf, from the Northern Political Elders Forum, to the ACF, and our Governors are merely small fish in small ponds. The North has never been more divided than it is today, and this will explain why those who use text messages to sow the seed of hatred and further divisions among Northerners, which, like many others, the ACF also condemns, are succeeding. When President Jonathan’s spokesmen dismiss the ACF as irrelevant, they may very well be reflecting views which are widely held in many informed circles in the North. Certainly its belated condemnation of the PDP Presidential contest amounts to locking the gates after the thief has bolted.
In these days when the political fortunes of the North are dwindling by the day, there may still be a place for the ACF. But the Forum needs to re-discover its mission, and resolve its internal contradictions to achieve focus, relevance and power in the manner Northern interests are projected and protected. Right now, the greatest challenge facing the North is to halt the frightening decline into conflict and anarchy which is being promoted by its own people and its detractors under the guise of religion and tribe. The historic strength of the North has always been its population and its ability to provide a united political front on most issues. Now the population has been split along religious and ethnic lines, and its famed political unity has been battered by shortsighted opportunism by its leaders, and this is compounded by its economic underdevelopment. If the ACF wants to be important to the lives of the average Northerner, this is what should constitute its main concern.
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