The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has described President Muhammadu Buhari as a “disappointment” which the region cannot afford to repeat in subsequent elections.
Director of Publicity and Advocacy of NEF, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed said this in an interview on the sidelines of the forum’s meeting at the Arewa House, Kaduna on Saturday.
He said that the north was deceived into voting in Buhari believing that the country would be better off.
According to Baba-Ahmed, the north will only vote for a competent president regardless of where he comes from in the 2023 presidential election in the country.
He reiterated that the region would not vote based on sentiments, noting that aspirants from both north and south were welcome to vie for the presidency in 2023.
The NEF spokesman warned northern aspirants in the 2023 race not to take the region for granted as it would not repeat what he called the “Buhari mistake”.
He said, “A northerner and a Southerner have equal rights to contest but Northerners should be very careful of who they vote for in 2023.
“No northerner should take us for granted. That’s how we ended up with President Buhari. We don’t want to repeat the same mistake. If you must be a northerner who’s better than all the candidates; for us, that’s the bottom line. It’s not enough to be a northerner, you have to be the best. You have to be the best for the North and you have to be the best for the rest of Nigeria.
“We are looking for a Nigerian President. If it comes from the North, fine but he must be voted for by Nigerians and he must be good and he must be better than all the others. That’s what we are looking for.”
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