Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has described remarks by the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) over a recent statement on the 2023 presidency by the Chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum, Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, while hosting a delegation of the Power Rotation Movement in Akure, as irrational and delusional.
The CNG has described Governor Akeredolu’s comment, who had insisted that the presidency must come to the South, as a threat to democracy.
PANDEF asked, “How can any sane person refer to Governor Rotimi Akeredolu as a threat to democracy? Do they need to be apprised of the credentials of Mr. Governor?”
A statement by the National Publicity Secretary of PANDE, Hon Ken Robison, said that the group backs the statement of the Governor, and restating the resolution of the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum at its meeting of January 13, 2022, that any political party that fields a northern candidate should not count on the support of the four regions in the 2023 presidential election.
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“Why is it difficult for people to accept the truth? It is simply unthinkable that anyone would consider another northern presidency after President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years.
“Organizations like the so-called Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) seem incorrigibly apathetic about the peace, unity and stability of Nigeria. They have, by their utterances, presented themselves as assemblages of unpatriotic individuals, who, perhaps, benefit from the inglorious goings-on in the country”, PANDEF stated.
PANDEF urged these groups to strive to appreciate the true tenets of democracy and stop the hallucination. The north should not and cannot retain Nigeria’s presidency beyond 29th May 2023, in the interest of national harmony.
According to PANDEF, “Defining the just and rightful demands for zoning and power rotation as threats and blackmail is a logical fallacy. Nobody is threatening nor attempting to intimidate anyone.
“The South and other patriotic Nigerians who are concerned about the future of Nigeria, are simply insisting that the fundamental principles of fairness, justice and equity must be respected and upheld in the power equation of Nigeria”, the group added.
It reminded the Northern groups and their sympathizers that the appropriation of rights by any section of the country must be measured against the rights of the others, saying no group or section of Nigeria can arrogate to itself or colonize the presidency of Nigeria.
