Two northern groups, Arewa Consultative Forum and the Northern Elders’ Forum have stated that northerners won’t vote for President Goodluck Jonathan in the March 28 election despite his recent victory over the Boko Haram sect.
The northern groups confirmed that they would not change the decision they made to vote the APC presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari.
The ACF National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Muhammed Ibrahim, who spoke with Punch dismissed the insinuation in some quarters that the forum might change its mind because of the successes soldiers were making in dislodging the insurgents from the North-Eastern part of the country.
The Deputy Chairman of the NEF Dr. Paul Nnongo, also explained why the forum would not change its mind. He said, “The Northern elders cannot support him not because he is an Ijaw man; we resolved not to support him because he is not performing.
“He should not have allowed many people to have been killed before he wakes up to his own responsibility. “We want a competent leader that can stop the genocide occurring in the North.
We have yet to understand why it took Jonathan so long before he began to act as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces by now buying equipment for the military.
“So, we congratulate him for finally waking up to his responsibility after insurgents have killed thousands of innocent people in the country. “For no just reason, Jonathan made life too cheap in Nigeria.
We, as a result, agreed that Nigeria needs a change; we do not care if Buhari comes from Ijaw land. “If another candidate that has the capacity to stop killing in the country hails from Ijaw land, we will support him. “Every day, minimum of 100 people are being killed by the insurgents non-stop for two solid years. We don’t want genocide in Nigeria.”
