Northern elders for sale (II)

There is a telling lesson for those sponsoring Tanko Yakasai and his group. The lesson is that the North is opposed to the ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan to continue to mislead the country. To that extent, those who fund and prop up the Northern Elders Council (NEC) should aptly read the handwriting on the […]

There is a telling lesson for those sponsoring Tanko Yakasai and his group. The lesson is that the North is opposed to the ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan to continue to mislead the country. To that extent, those who fund and prop up the Northern Elders Council (NEC) should aptly read the handwriting on the wall, their continuing scheme to divide the North and win election will suffer the same fate as the ambition of Tanko Yakasai to lead the ACF. No, the North is angry; more than in 2011, it rejects Jonathan. The wise men and women from the North, much less the masses, simply don’t believe that Yakasai and his Northern Elders Council (NEC) represent the collective interests of that part of the country. Reporting on his failure to clinch the leadership of ACF, a national newspaper said it “learnt that another thing that counted against Yakasai was the fact that Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo, who is considered weak in the North West, his geo-political zone, is the arrowhead and financier of NEC.” If a sitting Vice President cannot “install” someone as chairman of ACF, it then remains to be seen how much of his people he can deliver to this government.
Today, ACF remains the most cohesive socio-political forum you can find anywhere in Nigeria. Many of its leading members are business men and women, former top government officials and politicians. The ACF is also one of the most liberal groupings in this country; whether you are a Christian or Muslim, from the Middle Belt or Far North, Fulani or Tiv, Angas or Kanuri, soldier or civilian, you are accommodated under its umbrella. Its selection or election of leaders, unlike Afenifere or Ohaneze Ndigbo, is mostly through consensus and rancour-free.
It is this abiding tranquillity and conviviality among the wise men and women in the ACF that Jonathan’s divisive presidency wants to unsettle. Jonathan has divided the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the governors, his service chiefs, the Northern Elders Forum, Christian Association of Nigeria, the National Youth Council of Nigeria and almost every other group that he imagines he could use to retain political power.
The Northern Elders Council claims that its objectives are the promotion of dialogue, peace, unity and stability of the country. They also claim that they are opposed to violence and confrontation as well as “anti-democratic forces.” What then is the Council’s attitude to the recognition the Jonathan government accords Governor David Jang of Plateau State as the chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum considering the fact that he got 16 votes to Rotimi Amaechi’s 19 at the Forum’s election? What is the Council’s reaction to the arrest and dehumanisation, in Bayelsa State, of over 400 Northerners on mere suspicion that they belong to Boko Haram? What unity, which stability and dialogue has the Council opened with the Jonathan government over the missing $20b or the unspeakable poverty in the North? Or is the Northern Elders Council positioning itself to benefit from some of the largesse arising from this huge amount of money that is missing? What is the Council’s position on President Jonathan’s appointment of General Kenneth Minimah as the Chief of Army Staff and the near absence of Northern army officers among those named as commanders of the various divisions of the Nigerian Army as we head for a possibly disputed general election in 2015? Who do members of the Council regard as “anti-democratic forces”: is it those who say that a stolen election in 2015 could result in violence or those who swear that the country will disintegrate if Jonathan is beaten in free and fair election? In 2011, some people said they voted for Jonathan, not PDP, because he appeared simple and humble. Three years down the line, they’ve regretted their choice as the man has turned into something of anti-democrat.

For want of what to say, Tanko Yakasai and his group claim that they don’t support Jonathan but his policies. What policies? Is it the policy of arm-twisting opponents and compromising national institutions to achieve personal goals? Or is it the policy of continuously favouring his kinsmen at the expense of other citizens of Nigeria? Or indeed the policy of abandoning governance while politicking in Sokoto, Kano, Ife, Oyo, etc? Despite last year’s bombings and shootout, Jonathan didn’t visit Kano. Now that another election is approaching, he has discovered the roads to the palaces in Kano, Ife and Oyo, but the Emir of Kano knows too much about the anger of the ordinary citizens of his city.
Yakasai’s NEC is either ignorant of the desires of the ordinary Northerner, or the group is out to take advantage of Jonathan’s desperate election manoeuvres. Ordinary Northerners don’t think Nigerian unity is dependent on Jonathan continuing to be president, contrariwise, they believe that a defeat for him in the 2015 election is the minimum requirement for peace, stability and development of the country. This Northern Elders Council sounds bizarre, incoherent and self-serving!