The Northern Elders Forum has said that President Muhammadu Buhari was a mistake the Northerners made in 2015, saying the region cannot afford such again in 2023 for the interest of the country.
According to the group, there is nothing wrong if the next president after Buhari comes from the North, but he must be someone competent to govern Nigeria better than the current nation’s leader.
It further described Buhari as a disappointment not only to the North but to the entire country, stressing that Northerners will not be deceived to vote for such.
The group’s Director of Publicity and Advocacy, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, stated these in an interview with journalists in Kaduna on Saturday.
According to the NEF’s spokesperson, a Northerner and his Southern counterpart have equal rights to contest for the nation’s most coveted political office in the 2023.
He, however, said that the North would vote a competent president in 2023 whether from the North or South.
Baba-Ahmed maintained that no Northern presidential candidate should take the region for granted in the 2023 race, pointing out that that was how the region ended up with what he described as the “Buhari mistake”.
He said the North was deceived into voting in Buhari believing that the country would be better.
He, however, lamented that the reverse was the case today as the North and entire country was worse off than when Buhari took over in 2015.
Baba-Ahmed, a former Independent National Electoral Commission’s Secretary, said, “A Northerner and a Southerner have equal rights to contest but Northerners should be very careful of who they vote for in 2023.
“No Northerner should take us for granted. That’s how we ended up with President Buhari. We don’t want to repeat the same mistake. If you must be a Northerner who’s better than all the candidates; for us, that’s the bottom line. It’s not enough to be a northerner, you have to be the best. You have to be the best for the North and you have to be the best for the rest of Nigeria.
“We are looking for a Nigerian President. If it comes from the North, fine but he must be voted for by Nigerians and he must be good and he must be better than all the others. That’s what we are looking for.”