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Buhari Has Placed Nigeria On Life Support, Northern Governors May End Its Life—Southern Kaduna Group

September 30, 2021

The group further said even the Northern governors know that the people they govern cannot trust them again.

The Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) has slammed the Northern Governors' Forum (NGF) for their recent resolution that the North will not cede the presidency to the South in 2023. 

The NGF, on Monday, in its Kaduna summit said it is unconstitutional for its southern counterpart to demand that the next Nigerian president should come from the southern part of the country. 

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While this stance has been condemned by various groups and people from the South, SOKAPU lent its voice to it on Wednesday, accusing the Northern governors of insensitivity. 

The group lambasted northern leaders for deliberating to retain power when they should be seeking ways to solve the problem of insecurity in their states. 

It thereby stated that the Northern populace they usually relied on for votes is no longer united. 

SOKAPU also disclosed that it stands with the Southern Governors to produce the next President of Nigeria having experienced much havoc during the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in the last six years. 

This is contained in a press statement issued by SOKAPU President, Mr Jonathan Asake, and obtained by SaharaReporters on Wednesday. 

The statement read in part, "When the governors of the 19 northern states converged for a meeting at Kaduna on Monday, September 27, 2021, most of us thought the meeting was to review critical challenges facing the North particularly, and the country in general to address such.

"Unfortunately, their meeting turned out to be one of flexing muscles with their southern counterparts and a political debate over which region should produce the president come 2023.

"It is most regrettable that this group of leaders displayed their insensitivity and myopic disposition on the plight of their citizens who have been under tremendous onslaught by bandits, kidnappers, Fulani herdsmen militia, and other criminal groups. 

"It is obvious that there is no state in the North that has been spared of the activities of these terrorist groups, with many communities having been invaded, their people massacred and many more displaced into dehumanising IDP camps.

"One would have expected that the major item on the agenda for these governors would be how to tackle the spate of insecurity that has engulfed the North and proffer solutions. 

"Disappointedly, these governors were more engrossed in discussing the politics of zoning. Most embarrassing is the fact that they took a position against a legitimate and popular demand for power shift to the South.

"The Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) would like to remind these governors and their ilk that the old North that is traditionally used to garner votes and intimidate the South and thereafter return with political victory only to take care of less than 10 percent no longer exists as one united North."

The group further said even the Northern governors know that the people they govern cannot trust them again. 

It also reiterated that NGF scheming to retain power for the North in 2023 is a threat to Nigeria's unity which is already endangered by Buhari's government. 

"Again, we wish to further remind them that even as they sat at that meeting in Kaduna, the majority of them did not believe in their resolutions, especially on the issue of zoning because they know that the teeming citizens of their various states don’t believe in their position.

"That insistence on power remaining in the North in 2023 is a recipe for the chaos that could threaten the corporate existence of Nigeria, knowing fully well that over six years of Northern leadership under President Muhammadu Buhari has placed the country on life support. 

"We need a change of baton in leadership to the South as a means of building confidence, inclusiveness, and resuscitating the country.  

"On a final note, we wish to categorically declare that we align with the position taken by the Southern Governors for power to shift to the Southern part of Nigeria after the eight years of President Buhari in 2023. Thereafter, power should then rotate among the North, South, and Middle Belt zones to ensure justice, fairness, and equity," SOKAPU added. 

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