The Arewa Consultative Forum, (ACF), has countered a call by Governor Umaru Bago, of Niger state, to allow a Southerner, President Bola Tinubu, to complete an eight-year tenure before any individual from the North could contest.
Recall that Governor Bago had, during an interview on a television programme at the weekend, asked Northern politicians willing to be Nigeria’s president to wait until 2031, in respect to the zoning formula. According to him, the call for Northern candidates in 2027 is too hasty and unfair to the Southern region.
Reacting, the National Publicity Secretary of the ACF, Tukur Muhammad-Baba, dismissed Bago’s opinion, insisting that the Nigerian Constitution does not prevent Northerners from contesting.
The elder statesman said: “I think Governor Bago was just expressing his opinion. There’s no provision for enforcement. The position he has taken has no place in the Constitution.
“It is counter to constitutional provisions which give citizens the absolute and unequivocal right to contest elections or offer themselves to be voted into office. For now, it is a party affair.
“Besides, it’s not the first such call that has been made. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, made the same declaration a few weeks ago. Besides, it isn’t the first time such pronouncements have been made without positive results.
“Late Kano State governor Abubakar Rimi had challenged President Olusegun Obasanjo, up to the primaries, when the latter came out to contest for a second term. To that extent, there is nothing to worry about”, he stated.
