Northern leaders say they will not back anyone for president until they see all the candidates

POLITICAL leaders across northern Nigeria have declared that they will assess candidates of all parties before supporting any single contestant during the 2019 presidential elections due to take place in February.

Next year, Nigeria goes to the polls in what is expected to be a tight race between the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to become the APC candidate, although several other interested individuals have declared, while the race for the PDP ticket is hotting up.

Yesterday in Abuja, the Northern Leaders and Stakeholders’ Assembly (NLSA) met and declared after its meeting that would wait for various political parties to present their candidates before making a decision. NLSA chairman Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, said northern leaders would only support a presidential candidate after considering all the candidates put forward by the various political parties.

He added: “There’s a provision for adopting candidates  for elections either for presidential, governorship or local government chairmanship polls.  So far, we have not seen that happen to President Muhammadu Buhari following his rumoured second term bid and until that is done, any adoption by state chapters of his party is not legal.

“The constitutions of the APC and other political parties have not provided for the executives of the parties to nominate candidates, it’s only the convention that can. Our organisation’s doors are open to all and we are not here for a particular political party but when political parties adopt their candidates and we have assessed them, we will know who to support.”

Alhaji Yakassai said the main objective of the organisation is to promote the unity and well being of its people and together with other patriotic Nigerians to evolve a national blueprint that will address various problems confronting the nation. He also identified free and fair elections as a major challenge facing Nigeria as it approaches 2019 elections.

Furthermore, he also cited security problems and herdsmen and farmers clashes as other challenges facing the country. He stated that the problems would be resolved if the president convened a summit comprising of farmers, herdsmen, traditional rulers, religious leaders and political leaders.

Alhaji Yakassai said: “If the election is peaceful, free and fair, people will accept whoever emerges and look for solutions to these crises. If the president had summoned a stakeholders’ meeting and laid the issue before participants, some ideas would have be developed to provide direction for the government to follow.

He added the adoption of ranches instead of grazing reserves could permanently solve the clashes between the herdsmen and farmers. Alhaji Yakassai said there was the need for the north to ensure unity among its people ahead of the 2019 general election.