Politics
2023 not business as usual, we’ve learnt our lessons — Northern Elders
The Northern Elders Forum, NEF, has said that 2023 would not be business as usual because Northerners have learnt their lessons at great cost and would only vote for people that cared for them.
Chairman of NEF and former Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Professor Ango Abdullahi who spoke during the opening of the Northern People’s Summit at the Arewa House Kaduna on Wednesday, said Northerners will not vote along with ethnicity and faith in electing political leaders in 2023, while those that would be voted for must have the socio-economic development plans for the northerners irrespective of tribe and religion.
Professor Ango who was the convener of the Northern People’s Summit on barriers between the people and their leaders said It is not acceptable that serious issues which represent genuine improvements in our governance structures should wait for the pleasure of our legislators or the Presidency.
“We can vastly improve our mobilization of economic resources, reduce inefficiencies and waste and improve effective governance if we take the issues of restructuring more seriously. In the event that those we elected to represent us believe that this is not what we need, Nigerians should encourage a citizen-driven review of our foundations and systems, and democratically put in place leaders who will address them as matters of national survival or collapse.”
“In this respect, we should advise those who conflate the vital national imperative to restructure with issues of rotation or zoning the presidency to avoid doing major injury to our future as a nation. No one will quarrel with the decision of any political party to zone political offices and canvass for votes around them. Those parties who do this also have the responsibility to convince Nigerians over the utility and other values behind them. The basic rights of Nigerians to vote for candidates of their choices cannot be taken away by threats or blackmail.”
“Northern voters have supported three southerners, Abiola, Obasanjo and Jonathan to victory in the past, two of them against Northerners. Northern voters are enlightened and conscious of their responsibilities. They have learnt, perhaps at a greater cost than most Nigerians, that ethnicity and faith alone do not make good leaders. They will not accept to be further weakened so that they abandon the same rights all Nigerians enjoy. Those politicians who want Northerners to vote in a particular manner should soil their boots and convince Northerners how their candidates will improve security, economy and society in the North and the country. Using restructuring as a threat or bargaining tool for accepting zoning will destroy the imperatives of restructuring and imperil the country.”
“Politicians and leaders who desire to lead need to understand that Nigerians are watching what they do in the immediate constituencies that will entitle them to ask for our support. We should speak frankly and directly to the rest of Nigeria on this issue. Politicians who cannot impose their influence on irredentists that threaten our corporate existence and the lives and livelihoods of our fellow Northerners stand on the very thin ground in our estimation. Politicians who cannot or will not influence public sentiment which demonises our fellow Northerners and leaves them open to attack will not weigh much in our consideration as leaders under whom we will feel safe and secure,” he said.
Ango explained that “Politicians who want the support and the vote of the Northerner, but will not raise their voices and act to protect him against underserved treatment in areas where they have power and influence, should not expect to find our people with open arms when they ask for support.”
“By the same token, no Northerner should assume that he is guaranteed the support and votes of Northerners simply because he is one of us. Our experiences have taught us the values of critical scrutiny of records, dispositions and empathy. Our advice to all Nigerian politicians at this stage is to look around and see how much the ground has shifted from under their feet.”
According to him, “there will be no longer business as usual. Nigerians running away from bullets, stressing to make ends meet, or being made to fight each other instead of the real enemy will not forgive those who built the foundations of our circumstances today and seek to sustain their privileges over our fears and pains. Leadership has to emerge on the basis of different criteria. Only the best leadership can pull Nigeria from the brink.
We recognize that this leadership has to have identities, but its quality must be pre-eminently the most significant criteria for its evaluation. Every zone or region has major problems. Leaders from these zones who will not address these problems, alone or in collaboration with others, should know that they will be judged by their records in dealing with threats and how they turn them into opportunities for rebuilding a nation that shows all the traces of major distress.”
He said the Summit will attempt to be constructive and responsible in assuming appropriate responsibility for contributing to finding solutions. “It is not enough to upbraid our leadership for the woes of the North. If some of them have failed us, our response should be to work to reduce the damage of that failure, and to put in place better quality of leaders in their places in future.”
“We have been fortunate in having the best quality of intellect, experience and commitment at this Summit to do justice to the search for solutions to our problems. This Summit is non-partisan and has been designed to specifically address our inherent plurality in the North. We should commit to being dispassionate and brave enough to acknowledge where the North bleeds, and why. We must be mature enough to accept our limitations as a people, and identify what our sources of strength are. We must give hope to Northerners that our current challenges will pass, In Sha Allah.”
“This Summit should signal a new era in collaboration between those who hold power, and those who have a duty to support them to succeed. We must send a message to people who are bent on assaulting and killing our people that they are treading a very dangerous path, and they must stop. It is not acceptable that innocent Northerners should be made pawns in political games because the political elite cannot win the support of their people without yielding grounds to thugs and political minions to intimidate Northerners. It is not acceptable that any Northerner should protect criminal Fulani, whether he operates in the North or South, and it is equally unacceptable that Fulanis who are not involved in criminal activities should be profiled, demonized murdered or expelled from communities.”
Commenting on the state of insecurity, he said it is not acceptable that the state should tolerate growing irredentism which holds communities’ hostage and threaten national security.
“The North wants peace, security and economic progress. We believe that it is possible to achieve these in a strong, united Nigeria. We do not need to apologise to any group for this, and we will express another opinion if that is what is best for the North. The North has paid a huge price for the survival and unity of Nigeria and will continue to support this survival and unity to the degree that it serves everyone’s interests. We are naturally worried over alarming rhetorics suggesting serious elite polarization and failure of the state to address basic elements that guarantee our co-existence.”
“The North has its issues with Nigeria, but we believe they will be best addressed by Nigerians agreeing to collaborate and find solutions to them, as well as those of other regions. Groups that threaten to walk out of this union should read our history again. We have all contributed to the development of every inch of Nigeria, and no group should contemplate ceding with our commonwealth. We do not see secession as a solution for any grievance, and we strongly advise our national leadership to take these threats with all the seriousness they deserve.”
“This Summit will be most useful if it elevates the concept and practice of justice as the foundational principles that should lead to the resolution of the most difficult challenges that confront our nation today. Virtually all communities and aggrieved parties in Nigeria point to the absence of justice in the manner they relate with each other or the Nigerian state.
No country can survive with injustice. If ours will overcome its challenges and grow to meet the yearnings of future generations, it has to rediscover the place of justice as the foundation of all our systems and relations. I earnestly hope that this Summit will contribute to the search for major entry points for this endeavour.”
He said these are indeed very trying times for our country. “But we have had trying times in the past, and we overcome them. I do not want to encourage complacency, so I must advise that the challenges we face today are unprecedented.
They call for leaders and citizens to rise and collaborate to rid us of fear and the pains of daily existence. Northerners should lead the way to find solutions to Northern problems, and work with other Nigerians to find solutions to national problems. The world watches and worries over our mounting problems.
The world, however, will not stop our decline into irretrievable disaster unless we do the most basic pushing ourselves. Our leaders must improve their responses to our problems. If they will not, citizens should improve collaboration to limit the damage of their limitations. We must think out of the box and elect new sets of leaders who will do a lot better than the current ones.”
“I pray that this Summit will expose the wisdom of adopting new or better approaches to dealing with problems of the North. I hope one of these will be to advise Northerners to protect each other, and not to waste energy and focus on responding to provocations whose only purpose is keeping some people in the public realm.
I am grateful for this opportunity to offer my views at this Summit, and I look forward to participating fully in all its deliberations. May Allah blesses our efforts, and bless our country, Nigeria, Amin,” he said.
A communique is expected at the end of the Summit which had in attendance chieftains of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, other northern groups and associations from across the region.
Vanguard
Former Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso has dismissed suggestions that his exit from the African Democratic Congress has created a damaging split in the opposition.
He said he and Atiku Abubakar may yet work together before the 2027 general election.
Kwankwaso spoke in an interview on Arise TV on Monday, responding to concerns that his move to the Nigeria Democratic Congress alongside Peter Obi had effectively divided the opposition into two competing blocs ahead of the polls.
“Now, we may still work together before the election. I personally, and I think even Obi himself, decided to leave ADC not because we are fighting with Atiku or anybody there. We decided to leave that party because we realised that there are some issues,” he said
He said the ADC was contending with three major unresolved problems that he believed would make it difficult for the party to field candidates, without specifying what those issues were.
“Whether they will be able to field candidates in that party or not is just a matter of time. It’s not like we had a primary election,” he said
The remarks come after Atiku recently claimed on Arise TV that Kwankwaso’s popularity was confined to Kano State and further divided there by Governor Abba Yusuf.
Atiku, who is seeking the presidency on the ADC platform, also described himself as the most popular politician of northern extraction, saying none of his contemporaries, including Kwankwaso, Aminu Tambuwal and Nasir El-Rufai, commanded a voter base across the North as wide as his.
Kwankwaso did not engage the slight directly, but made clear he bore no grudge.
“Politics is just like a game. I’m not fighting anybody and I’m not expecting anybody to fight me. I have no issue with that. I think we are past that level now,” he said.
He challenged those predicting a vote split in Kano to wait for the election result before drawing conclusions.
“Let’s wait for the election and see whether votes are split in Kano or not,” he said.
Kwankwaso also acknowledged a history of working with Atiku, recalling that he served as the former vice president’s northern coordinator during the 2019 presidential election.
“There was an election in 2019 in Port Harcourt. He won the election. I was his coordinator for the north. We worked for him,” he said.
He traced his broader relationship with Atiku to the 2015 APC presidential primary in Lagos, where he placed second behind Muhammadu Buhari, with Atiku third.
By Okey Maduforo, Awka
The Anambra State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has expelled 30 members of the party for instituting legal actions against the party.
The affected members include some aspirants for the National Assembly, and their expulsion may disqualify them from participating in the party’s primary elections.
Disclosing this shortly after the meeting of the State Executive Committee (SEC) of the party, the State Publicity Secretary, Dr. Sir Valentine Iyiegbu, told reporters that the decision was in line with Section 21, Subsection 5 of the party’s constitution.
“The party discussed those who took the party to court, and many of them are contesting for the House of Representatives tickets of the party,” he said.
“The matter comes up tomorrow, and the SEC stated that what the party constitution stipulates would be followed, which is outright expulsion from the party under Article 21, Subsection 5.”
“The SEC actually ratified their expulsion because they did not exhaust all the internal avenues provided by the party to resolve their grievances,” he added.
Iyiegbu noted that the only reprieve available to the expelled members would be for them to withdraw their court cases.
“It is only when the matters are withdrawn from the court that the party can consider listening to them,” he said.
Speaking on the party’s primary elections, he explained:
“In the case of those contesting for the tickets of the Federal House of Representatives, all the eleven positions have aspirants, while for the Senate, the three positions are also being contested. The screening committees were here to perform their duties,” he noted.
The party also ratified the appointment of a five-man Primary Elections Committee headed by Sir Izuchukwu Okeke, the State Organising Secretary of the party.
By PETRUS OBI
Frontline aspirant for the Aninri/Awgu/Oji-River Federal Constituency seat, Anayo Onwuegbu, has successfully completed the screening exercise conducted by the All Progressives Congress House of Representatives screening panel in Abuja ahead of the party primaries scheduled for Friday, May 15, 2026.
Speaking after the exercise, Onwuegbu expressed satisfaction with the screening process, describing it as a reflection of the party’s commitment to internal democracy, transparency, and credible leadership selection ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The aspirant, who is seeking to represent Aninri/Awgu/Oji-River Federal Constituency under the platform of the APC, stated that he remains focused and prepared to continue to offer quality representation to the people of the constituency.
According to him, “The process once again highlights our party’s commitment to internal democracy, transparency, and the emergence of credible leadership as we prepare for the 2027 general elections.”
He reaffirmed his dedication to the development of the constituency, pledging to serve the people with commitment and purpose if elected.
The APC House of Representatives primaries are expected to hold nationwide on Friday as aspirants battle for the party’s tickets ahead of the 2027 elections.
By Okey Maduforo, Awka
Ten communities that make up Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State are set for a showdown with their traditional rulers following the alleged suspension of the zoning arrangement for the Anambra State House of Assembly elections.
Recall that on April 7, 2022, the traditional rulers, in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), resolved that the House of Assembly seats for Anaocha I and Anaocha II constituencies would rotate among the ten communities, with each town occupying the seat for two terms.
The traditional rulers further resolved that the rotation would subsist irrespective of the political party through which lawmakers emerge, noting that the arrangement was aimed at ensuring that all ten communities have the opportunity to produce members of the State Assembly in the interest of equity and fairness.
However, the Anaocha Equity Forum, shortly after its meeting, expressed concern over the alleged suspension of the zoning arrangement.
Speaking, the Convener of the Anaocha Equity Forum, Mr. Valentine Okoye, said the forum would not take kindly to what it described as acts capable of destabilising the council area, adding that any such move would be resisted.
“This is a Memorandum of Understanding signed by our traditional rulers, and it has been respected until now. We in the Anaocha Equity Forum see this as a slap on the sensibilities of the ten communities that make up the area,” he said.
“We urge members of the public, political parties, and stakeholders to disregard the alleged position of the traditional rulers, as it does not represent the views and aspirations of our people.
“Our traditional rulers should be mindful of their roles as fathers of their respective communities. They should also understand that they would be held responsible for whatever backlash or consequences may arise from this recent position.
“We call on Governor Charles Soludo to call the traditional rulers to order so that the peace currently enjoyed in Anaocha Local Government Area will not be disrupted,” he stated.
The exit of Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso, two prominent opposition figures, has weakened the African Democratic Congress across both chambers of the National Assembly.
The National Democratic Congress, which received Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso on Sunday, recorded its biggest gains on Tuesday with the addition of 17 House members and a senator. Weeks earlier, its ranks expanded when Seriake Dickson, representing Bayelsa West, defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to join the party.
The development comes a few days after several opposition parties resolved to present a single presidential candidate against President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 elections.
The wave of defection to the NDC occurred 48 hours after Obi and Kwankwaso, two of the ADC’s most prominent figures, formally exited the party. These moves have significantly altered the opposition landscape ahead of the 2027 general elections, setting the stage for shifting political alliances.
Additionally, the latest defectors, drawn from Kano, Anambra, Lagos, Edo, Rivers, and Kogi States, cited internal disarray within the ADC as a major factor that influenced their decision.
While reading their letters on the floor of the House, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, who presided over the plenary session, said the lawmakers blamed the party’s instability for their departure, noting that the crisis remained “unresolved starting from the ward to the national level.”
The defectors to the NDC are Yusuf Datti, Sani Adamu, Zakari Mukhtari, Kamilu Ado, Harris Okonkwo, George Ozodinobi, Lilian Orogbu, Peter Anekwe, Emeka Idu, Ifeanyi Uzokwe, and Afam Ogene. Others include Lagos lawmakers Thaddeus Attah, Oluwaseyi Sowunmi, George Olwande, and Jese Onuakalusi, as well as Murphy Omroruyi from Edo and Umezuruike Manuchim from Rivers State.
In a separate move, Kogi lawmaker Leke Abejide defected from the ADC to the ruling All Progressives Congress.
The coordinated nature of the defections is widely interpreted as a show of loyalty to Obi and Kwankwaso, whose switch to the NDC is already reshaping opposition dynamics.
Both men are influential political figures with strong regional bases—Obi in the South-East and Kwankwaso in the North-West—and their exit from the ADC appears to have triggered a ripple effect among lawmakers aligned with their political structures.
The ADC’s current troubles did not emerge overnight. In recent months, tensions within the party escalated over leadership struggles, strategy disagreements, and competing ambitions among top figures.
The situation worsened amid reports of irreconcilable differences between Obi, Kwankwaso, and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who was also a central figure in opposition coalition talks.
Efforts to build a united front ahead of 2027 reportedly broke down due to mistrust, zoning disagreements, and control of party structures.
Their eventual defection to the NDC marked a turning point. Seen as a more viable platform for consolidating opposition strength, the NDC quickly became a magnet for lawmakers and political actors seeking stability and clearer leadership direction.
With the departure of key figures and a steady decline in its legislative strength, the ADC now faces a daunting struggle to maintain political relevance.
The loss of national figures like Obi and Kwankwaso, combined with the defection of lawmakers across multiple states, appears to have weakened its structure and electoral prospects.
Only last week, the party boasted 24 members of the House of Representatives, but it is now left with six.
Once the dominant opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party may equally struggle to retain its status.
Though still officially the most formidable opposition in the House, the PDP currently has 29 members in the Green Chamber, down from 116 members in its ranks at the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly in June 2023.
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