According to the Arewa Joint Committee, the area has not endorsed a particular presidential candidate for the general elections in February 2023.
In a statement signed and provided to newsmen in Kaduna, Mallam Murtala Aliyu, the chairman steering committee of the Arewa group, clarified that the interaction was not intended to endorse any particular candidate for president.
The joint committee, which consists of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Arewa House, Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Arewa Research and Development Project, and Jamiyyar Matan Arewa, hosted an interactive session with the six presidential candidates of the various political parties on Saturday and Monday, with the exception of Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP).
The committee claims that the interaction was planned with the intention of openly showcasing the candidates’ potential so that Nigerians and people from the North could judge who had the best plans for the country and who would be the best choice to represent them in the general elections of 2023.
According to the report, the interactions were not planned with the intention of endorsing a particular candidate, but rather as a step in a larger process intended to inspire candidates to make pledges to deal with the problems in the North over the course of the campaign.
We intend to extract and publish these commitments so that Nigerians can compare and contrast candidates based on them, according to the communiqué. Our objective is to give voters the chance to compare candidates’ stances on issues that are crucial to the interests of the North.
The communique stated that the North would be required to increase its vigilance over all electoral activities until the elections in February 2023, stressing the importance of the region prioritizing evidence of competence, integrity, quality of preparation, and commitment to address the North’s challenges among candidates.
It stated that it would keep calling the government’s attention to the security of the electoral process, especially given the North’s vulnerability to organized crime, which could seriously jeopardize the people’s right to vote for the new leaders in 2023.
The communique noted that exploiting racial and religious fault lines is extremely risky and that the nation is already displaying signs of stress as a result.
