The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) said it would not accept the retention of power in the north beyond 2023 after President Muhammadu Buhari must have served out his second tenure in office.
The forum declared that the country would not remain the same if power still remains in northern Nigeria after Buhari, saying it will mobilise their people from the creeks to reject such injustice.
Ken Robinson, PANDEF national publicity secretary, said this when leadership of the forum visited Adewole Adebayo, the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Abuja on Tuesday.
Robinson said when the campaign starts, PANDEF would mobilise its members and speak to good Nigerians in the north on why the next president of Nigeria should come from the southern part of the country.
He said: “After eight years of the Buhari presidency, another will want to retain power. Let me repeat to you, I was on TV after the PDP primaries. And there were speculations that the ticket of the APC was also likely to go North.
“In fact, the national chairman said they had a consensus candidate in person for the Senate president. And I said that if the two major political parties present Northern candidates, it will be a declaration of war in Southern Nigeria.
“We are in a situation where an administration has operated a system as if others do not exist. There are 17 military, para-military and Intelligence security agencies in the country. At the last count, 14 of them are from the Northern part of the country, three from Southern Nigeria. There are six zones. So, even if you distribute two each to each region you still have five you can share the way you want.
“The NNPC Limited as it is called today has 11 key management and board members. The South-South has one person; South East has two, South West has one; four to seven.
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“When the campaign starts, we will mobilise ourselves, speak to good Nigerians in Northern Nigeria and in Southern Nigeria why the next president of Nigeria should come from the Southern part of Nigeria. Anything short of that, and we are not saying this is not a threat, yes, we were in a meeting with people from the Dutch Embassy, three days ago I was in a meeting with the British High Commissioner, and we told them this thing that Nigeria will no longer be what it has been if the next president goes North.”
According to him, “The statement is not a threat. And we are serious. We will mobilise our people in the creeks, in the farm lands to the streets across Nigeria to work together. There are many people who don’t like what is going on. The Honourable Minister, Solomon Dalung and other million people in the North who have clear conscience, who are sincere Nigerians and want Nigeria to be better.”
Robinson said they are meeting with the presidential candidates to ensure that anyone that emerges governs well.
In his remarks, Adebayo, the SDP presidential standard bearer, said the meeting was part of a conversation that will help Nigeria, saying the unity of Nigeria was paramount.
“The conversation has begun. It won’t end today because it involved PANDEF, Afenifere and the Middle Belt. The unity of Nigeria is number one. There is no room for casting doubt on the continuity and unity of Nigeria.
“Niger Delta has been a source of stupendous wealth but nothing can’t be cured with justice. I view Niger Delta people as Nigerians first. Let’s leave the oil first. They are Nigerians. We are dealing with the Niger Delta in our government as human beings if we emerge,” he said.
According to him, “This division will cease to be relevant because when a just man is on the throne people rejoice. You need a righteous man not Hausa, Igbo Yoruba to be the next president.
“For this reason, I share the sympathy of the Middle Belt and Niger Delta. From region to region, from agenda to gender, power should rotate. We will not look at ourselves from where we are coming from, we will give Nigerians the needed leadership.”
