IS THE SOUTH REALLY READY FOR A NORTHERN PRESIDENT? BYFOLA OJO Nigeria’s opposition party APC is a salad bowl of sort. The party’s battle for identity is just beginning and by the time it picks its presidential candidate, the war will commence in earnest. Unlike the ruling party PDP, APC at its inception was not perceived as a national party. It’s been branded a Moslem party that caters for one cohort in the country. Those who want President Jonathan and its party out of power are now deliberately developing cold or numb feet throwing full-fledged support for APC to grab the center. In the states controlled by the party especially in the south-West, the Governors are the toasts of the majority as a result of good works that we see. APC, many of us have concluded, has anointed the North and a Northerner as presidential candidate. We don’t know who that will be, but there are guesses every day. Some people fear this, some hate it, and for some, it is ‘siddon look’. We don’t think we will see a Fashola, Oshiomole, Amaechi secure the presidential ticket in spite of good works they have done. Not in 2014/2015 APC. APC at the national level is one train running on two different tracks attempting to head for one destination. Unfortunately one train can’t do that. We have elements in the north that has one sole agenda-control the Federal Government. We are not sure what they want to do with the center mass power, but we know what they have done in the past. Majority of them are Muslims and are understandably passionately sympathetic with Islam and Moslems. We have them on record how they feel about Moslems, the rest of us, and Nigeria. In these times in the Nigerian nation where its people are life-affirming, there is palpable fear of Boko-Haram and hatred for its sponsors who some say are APC members from the North. The claims are out there that many Northern APC elements have some family members in the dreaded Boko-Haram. That was what Femi Fani-Kayode inferred in his farewell note to the party. On the other hand are elements in the south who don’t care what God you serve as long as rapid progress and development occur daily in the land; and they have walked the talk in many states in the south with developments everywhere. Those in the south are not hard-core Moslems who love those who kill for Allah. They have condemned terrorists and terrorism many times. But In war there are collateral damages. When a ‘bomb’ is dropped amidst a civilian population, it kills both women and children unfortunately. When the ‘bomb’ of accusation against APC as a Boko Haram party is dropped in press-conferences and in notes like that of FFK, and in insinuations from the presidency, those who detest Boko Haram in the APC, the good guys who are just working off their tails to get Nigeria moving forward, the hardworking governors and senators who are only thinking about the people, also get snuffed off. The “Moslem, Boko Haram, terrorists” tags are sticking to the APC, and daily Nigerians in the south are beginning to ask themselves: “Are we really ready for a Northern president? Is this the time to take that risk?” That is what we are hearing.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 10:17:25 +0000
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