The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) are set to screen certain presidential candidates for adoption as consensus candidate for northern voters in the 2023 general elections. The Spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, in a media interaction had disclosed that the northern elders are currently engaged a rigorous but productive interrogation exercise, in the search for a candidate for the 2023 presidential election.
Meanwhile, the front line presidential candidates include Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), having Senator Kashim Shettima as running mate; former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), having Govenror Ifeanyi Okowa as running mate; former Governor peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), having Dr. Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed as running mate; Engr. Musa Kwankwaso, having Olufemi Ajadi as running mate, among others.
The elder statesman said that the search will be limited candidates of the 18 formally recognized political parties.
Baba-Ahmed asserted that northern elders will not make the mistake they made in 2015 when they endorsed Muhammadu Buhari, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), candidate, and told northern voters to deliver bloc votes to him. He stated that the candidate “must have the mental and physical capacities to lead Nigeria and solve the security and economic problems in the country”.
The elder statesman had declared: “We will put all those candidates through a rigorous process if they are willing and they had better be willing, because we carry the responsibility on our shoulders to advise a lot of people in the north where to go and we will exercise that responsibility very seriously.”
Baba-Ahmed added: “We have an idea what the next President should look like.
“It will be a basis with which the north will support a candidate.
“What he intends to do in terms of satisfying us that he has the mental capacity, the physical capacity, the intellect, the willingness to tap into the best that is available, sensitivity to a number of key issues that are central to our survival as a country. Those things are going to represent for us the basis for which we will support a candidate.
“At this stage, our options are open. We will not vote on narrow prisms like where you (candidates) come from…
“I can speak for the northern elders’ forum. We have not said we will only support a northern candidate; what we said is we will defend the rights of northerners to compete freely and equally with others, we will support a northerner if we think he is the best, and we will not go to apologise for that at all.
“We will support a southerner if we believe that he will do justice to the interest of the north and the interest of other parts of the country. What is important for us is that we are looking for the best that is available.
“We are not supporting anybody; we are going to support the best candidate that represents the best.”