A Nigerian politician and spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, says Nigeria’s next president should convene a National Conference within his first year in office to address fundamental issues affecting the country.
Baba-Ahmed stated yesterday while featuring on a television programme.
Recall that the past administrations of President Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan had convened National Conferences between 2005 and 2014 respectively. The recommendations of both conferences were not implemented.
Baba-Ahmed, a former Secretary to Kaduna State Government said previous conferences did not solve Nigeria’s problems and warned against becoming “hostages to past failures.”.
According to the NEF helmsman, the issues in Nigeria were beyond state police and security reconfiguration. Nigeria, he said, has to discuss and take a decision of inclusiveness, and integration, allocation of resources, creation and distribution of wealth.
Baba-Ahmed further said Nigerians do not want an ethnic president or a president voted on the basis of faith, saying the country needs a courageous president that will take decisions that may not be popular among the people.
He also said Nigerians have to pay attention to the Legislature since the needed changes that the country is yearning for cannot be achieved by the president alone without going to the National and State Assemblies.
According to him, the Northern Elders Forum, unlike other groups, was yet to endorse any candidate, an action he said was deliberate.
He, however, said the group would endorse a candidate before the election, as they cannot afford to leave the North “hanging”.
On the concerns raised by some Nigerians about the electronic transmission of results, Mr. Baba-Ahmed said the Northern Elders Forum was happy with the progress made by the Independent National Electoral Commission to improve the integrity of the electoral process.
