AREWA INTERACTS WITH 2023 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

On 17^th October 2022, Arewa Joint Committee, a culmination of many Arewa minded organizations among which are Arewa Elders Forum, Arewa Consultative Forum, Jam’iyyar Matan Arewa and others organized an interactive session for the 4 major presidential candidates of Nigeria in Arewa House Kaduna. Though only 3 candidates graced the event as one of them declined. The chair of the steering committee, while making remark, dissociated themselves from any partisanship whatsoever as the interaction has more to do with Arewa (North) and Nigeria at large rather than any political candidate. Whatever the case may be, we definitely need more of these sessions that could charge the candidates to prepare for the task ahead and to commit them to some vital projects that can turn around the life of citizens for good.

Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the first to speak and after taking time to recognize dignitaries,

‘If I miss you, it’s not intentional, this is not about protocol but a nation building.” Said Bola Ahmed. 

He talked about the security structure that will be put in place and emphasized on unity and indivisibility of Nigeria. He promised to work with wider consultations from Federal down to local government levels. He stressed the need of good experience and can-do attitude which he has and will use it to take Nigeria forward. He promised to build Nigeria of our dreams during our time and it’s a promise that he said, Nigerians can depend on. He emphasized on reviving the industrial spirit of the nation as we have so much potentials in that regards. Jobs and employment opportunities through industrialization with even addition of solar electricity to each state to complement the power supply.

He talked on his relationship with North, attributed his success of been the APC presidential flag bearer to the most Northern Governors and stakeholders. He bragged of the great minds in his company, and with them, they will make Nigeria great. He was asked questions on literacy gap of Northern Nigeria against the South, climate change, girl child education but his responses were not articulated.

  

Peter Obi came is the second candidate on the stage and began with security challenges which claimed it is easy and will certainly deal with it. He highlighted the relationship between poverty and violence, that when hunger is addressed, people will be calm. He further stated that MDG recognized him in 2011, 2012 and 2013 when he was Governor of Anambra state to have pulled millions out of poverty. He then, as always, asked us to go and verify. Corruption will be fought for he has track record of taking good care of public fund from his previous experience as a governor. He, as usual, gave a lot of figures and statistics to support his achievements in Anambra state and to picture the pathetic trend of Nigerian economy. He lamented the negligence of government in respect to oil theft which he promised to handle with dexterity.

He also talked of out of school children which he mistakenly assumed to be all almajiris for he said that since they can all read Qur’an, they are intelligent and therefore educating them on conventional system will not be difficult. He emphasized on being a Nigerian with Nigeria at heart and will do whatever it takes to make it work again. He appealed to Nigeria to only vote someone they can trust, as election is a trust issue, not just well written documents with promised that may not see the light of the day. “It’s about trust, competence and commitment” he said. He debunked the hearsay that during his governorship of Anambra state, he asked Northerners to carry identity cards. He promised that one the greatest investments he will have is in women. A questioner disagreed with Peter Obi’s comment that north is poor, as a lot of southerners came to live and nourish their existence from the abundance of the North. Peter Obi, in an attempt to answer the question on agitation, said that he will have dialogue with any group of agitators, exhaust reasons and deal with them when it comes to that. He claimed that tribalism is an elite conspiracy used in order to secure votes for non-competent candidates.

 

Finally, Atiku Abubakar who acknowledged the privilege given to him by Arewa House to allow him to speak on their platform, cautioned that the situation of Northern Nigeria calls for sober reflection irrespective of our partisan politicking and that Northern Nigeria must have its prosperity restored, “prosperous economy under peaceful atmosphere” he said. He promised to unite Nigerians, strengthen the security, build a dynamic economy, improve education delivery and apportion power to state and local government economies. He dwelled on elaborating the above policies emphasizing that incentivization of the private sector is the way to go as far infrastructure is concerned. There is a plan to have public private sector consortium where foreign investors will be attracted to build infrastructures and recoup their money overtime. Small and medium enterprises too have been part of his presentation, then ensuring entrepreneurship as part and parcel of every academic curriculum. He further talked about restructuring to allow state and local government more power, responsibilities and funding to execute their individual projects.

He emphasized that education is a fundamental and non-negotiable as far as his administration is concerned for at present, he has ‘cradle to grave’ programme on education where he has kindergarten, nursery, primary, secondary and university in one place. He answered the questions raised decisively especially on out-of-school children, contemplating legislating that parents must send their kids to schools. He also promised more than 30% representation for women in his cabinet. One of his comments that people detest is this: “What the average northerner needs is somebody who is from North and understands the other parts of Nigeria, who has been able to build bridges across the rest of the country. This is what the northerner needs. He doesn’t need a Yoruba candidate or an Igbo candidate. I stand before you as a pan Nigeria of Northern origin.”

For all it’s worth, I can say this is a milestone in Northern and Nigerian politics at large. We hope in some years to come, these kinds of gathering will be the key ingredients in determining the suitability of candidates or otherwise through rigorous interactions to identify who understands the job and can deliver it well, not just aligning to tribe, ethnicity and religion as basis of election at the expense of character and competence.

Malam Nasir El-Rufa’I as a host suggested that this initiative should be continued and appealed to Northern governors, through the Chairman of Northern Governors Forum to keep the momentum by funding the subsequent interactions. We hope that states will emulate such effort to create a platform for all their gubernatorial and legislative candidates, charge them and commit them to making citizens the centre of their administration policies.