Chairman of NEF, Professor Ango Abdullahi, said this at a book launch in Kaduna on Thursday.
The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has said Northern Nigeria will not support any presidential candidate that seeks to exploit the region's ethnic and religious diversity to get to power in 2023.
Chairman of NEF, Professor Ango Abdullahi, said this at a book launch in Kaduna on Thursday.
The former Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria also frowned on a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket but failed to mention the name of any political party.
The presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu and his running mate, a former governor of Borno, are Muslims, and this has generated controversy.
The NEF Chairman said, “We will participate in all political and electoral activities as equals, and concerning other Nigerians who respect us. In the North, we consider attempts to create divisions and conflicts around religion as hostile acts.
“We have paid a high price in conflicts around religion in the North, and we do not need to do more. Our insecurity and collapsing economy do not discriminate between Christians and Muslims.
“We cannot seek solutions from them as Muslims or Christians. I have to state here that we are witnessing some of the crudest and most unproductive campaigns to create divisions between Hausa and Fulani people, and create distances between Christians and Muslims in the North.
“We warn that these contemptible attempts will fail because they find no support in history. We warn that these contemptible attempts will fail because they find no support in history going back centuries, or in the recent past.
“While we differ in faith and ethnicity, history, geography and our experiences in living as Nigerians have created roots and bonds that cannot be destroyed by desperate political gambits.
“The North will participate in all political and electoral activities as equals and with respect to other Nigerians who respect us. The North want leaders who will lead with integrity, competence, compassion and the fear of God.”
According to him, northerners will not “support a candidate that fails to convince that he will radically improve the quality of governance and the integrity of leaders”.
Abdullahi added that “Northerners will not be intimidated into making choices that do not improve the chances of real changes in their current circumstances”.