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According to the Arewa Joint Committee, the area has not endorsed a particular presidential candidate for the general elections in February 2023.
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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 made up 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 on Saturday and Monday, with the exception of the New Nigerian Peoples Party’s (NNPP) Rabiu Kwankaso.
The committee claims that the interaction was designed with the intention of openly showcasing the candidates’ capabilities so that Nigerians and people from the North could judge who had the greatest plans for the country and who would be the best choice to represent them in the general elections in 2023.
According to the report, the meetings were not arranged with the intention of endorsing a particular candidate, but rather as a step in a larger process intended to inspire contenders to make pledges to deal with the problems in the North during the course of the campaign.
We intend to extract and publicize these pledges 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 will keep calling the government’s attention to the security of the electoral process, especially given the North’s vulnerability to organized crime, which might seriously jeopardize the people’s right to vote for the new leaders in 2023.
The statement noted that exploiting racial and religious fault lines is exceedingly risky and that the nation is already displaying indications of stress as a result.
