HIDDEN AGENDA IS BETTER THAN NO AGENDA From the timing, composition and lopsidedness of the National Conference, no discerning mind is left in doubt as to its real motive: To further ridicule, blackmail and alienate the North towards 2015, in the first instance and for its perpetual domination thereafter. With the loss of the presidency through the death of President Yar’Adua in 2010, the entire North completely lost what remained of its control over the affairs of the nation. Subsequent tragedies since then, have aggravated the plight of the average Northerner. First of all, we belatedly learnt that some self-appointed representatives of the North made a hidden agreement with the then acting President to serve only one term, after which the Presidency would return to the North, a pact which the President has already denied ever taking place. Be that as it may, how could these people tell us that they made such an important agreement on behalf of the North without putting it in writing or letting the people they ‘borrowed their mouth to chew onion’ know about it at the material time? Would it not have been better, for these so-called representatives of the North to negotiate better deals like more economic benefits and strategic appointments as the Igbos did and are now reaping the fruit of their strategic thinking. Instead they opted for the glamour of the office whose previous Northern occupants misused and abused to the detriment of their people? On the other side of the political spectrum, we saw another set of Northern leaders busy forming alliances with the unpredictable South West which has the infamous reputation of failing to support the candidate of their party in 2011. From the outcome of the recent Ekiti election and the type of feelers coming out from their opinion leaders, how can the North be sure that this time around it will not be betrayed again? To complete the triple tragedy of the North, persistent insurgency, ethnic tensions and mutual suspicion between the Muslims and Christians have combined to destabilize it both economically, socially and politically, as others cash in to divide and rule them. There are accusations and counter-accusations between the two religious groups; with the Christians claiming that the Muslims are regarding them as second class citizens in the same region they share, while the latter are accusing the former of blindly supporting their southern opponents. It would seem to me therefore that whether at the ongoing National Conference, in the build up to the 2015 Presidential elections, strategies for ending the Boko Haram insurgency or the myriad of economic woes, the North has no agenda at all. It is necessary therefore to call on the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) to, as a matter of urgency, convene a SUMMIT of all Northerners to dialogue and come up with a road map for addressing the current challenges and charting the way forward for a united, secure and prosperous region. Otherwise, the current situation could lead the entire North into an eternal perdition.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 11:41:57 +0000
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