The apex northern socio-cultural organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has disclosed it will not endorse any candidate in the 2027 presidential election.
It, however, said it would interview the presidential hopefuls in the next six months to ascertain their plans for the region.
Speaking exclusively with LEADERSHIP in Kaduna, ACF national publicity secretary, Prof. T. A. Muhammad-Baba, said the presidential hopefuls would be asked to disclose plans on how they intend to tackle the challenges of insecurity and poverty in the northern region.
Pending the conduct of primary elections in political parties, some of the leading presidential hopefuls are President Bola Tinubu; former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi; former Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi; Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim; and Adewole Adebayo, who have indicated interest to contest the nation’s top seat in 2027.
Although the apex regional body said it would not endorse any candidate in 2027, it had endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) against Atiku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019.
The forum did not endorse a candidate in the 2015 election between then incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and Buhari as APC’s candidate.
explaining that the support of a particular candidate against another candidate would affect the unity of the forum.
“I have said that the North is only one of the issues that the majority of northerners share. But when it comes to partisan issues, northerners do not speak with one voice. It is against that backdrop that one can say the whole North cannot possibly support a particular candidate in 2027.
“More so, most of the major political parties have registered their presence in the North. That also explains why ACF may be political but not partisan, since membership of the forum cuts across party lines,” Sani added.
Similarly, the ACF Board of Trustees chairman, Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu, said ahead of the 2027 elections the North would only support candidates who had shown seriousness in promoting and protecting the interests of the region.
Dalhatu, who stated this during one of the board’s meetings held in Kaduna, said the forum would not support any political figure or party.
“Northern Nigeria will remain faithful not to particular politicians or political parties but to those who care about our regional interests and are willing to promote and protect them,” he said.
Credit: Leadership