The spokesman for the Northern Elders’ Forum, Dr. Paul Unongo has revealed that the NEF is working with the Arewa Consultative Forum, to ensure that the North presented a credible consensus candidate for the 2015 general election.
“What is going on now in the North is just discussions. ACF has been meeting and consulting with the Northern Elders’ Forum. We have held two or three meetings. We have areas of agreement and areas of slight disagreement. We are consolidating on the areas we agree on.”
He added that the region’s choice of a presidential candidate would largely depend on the competence and the person’s acceptability to other parts of the country.
Ugongo said, “The Speaker of the House of Representatives seems to stand very tall. The capacity he has displayed has elicited confidence in his people (members of the House) from all the geopolitical areas. He seems to command the respect of all the political parties that have representation in the House.
“He must be doing something pleasing to the ACN, CPC and some members of his party, PDP. Some of us consider him very attractive and we will be very proud to present him as somebody to be looked at for possible leadership of this country.
“Somebody like Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, if he was young and interested in this type of thing, we would have been happy to present him. But he is known to say ‘no’ to political leadership right from the time when he was in the military.
“If the Governor of the Central Bank, Lamido Sanusi, retires from the bank, where he has established himself as an upright and fearless Nigerian, convincing the most brilliant minds that he can compete with anybody in the world, he is the kind of people Nigeria should be looking for.
“I am told that the Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, has indicated to some people that he wants to become President. He hasn’t told me or the public. I hear that the Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, wants to run and I also hear of the Governor of Bauchi, Isa Yuguda. As far as I’m concerned any of these gentlemen is eminently qualified to run for the presidency of Nigeria” he stated.
