The Northern Elders Forum (NEF), said on Tuesday that the only way out of the different positions taken by Southern Governors’ Forum and that of the North Governors’ Forum and South on power shift in 2023 is negotiation.
The Southern Governors’ had earlier in the year insisted that power should shift to the South after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure,
Governors from the North and monarchs, on Monday described the call as confrontational and unconstitutional and insisted on not zoning the presidency to the South, insisting that the electorates will determine where the President will come from in 2023.
The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) have waded into the crisis and said rather than hold on to rigid positions, the two sections of the country should negotiate the power shift and settle it amicably as this is enough to destabilize the nation.
Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, Spokesman of NEF in a statement on Tuesday said: “We hope everyone will now sit back and do the real work of politics, by discussing what can be done, what should be done and how those things can be done.
“What is left now is for the Northern Governors to engage their Southern colleagues in productive discussions on the way forward. Southern Governors are saying you must bring the presidency to the South, Northern Governors say read the constitution again, there is a way this is done.
“They need to find a way to bridge the gap that exists between them. Their rhetoric are splitting the country; they are causing more mischief and this country has enough problems. We don’t need very senior politicians fighting over something that should not tear the country. Where the President comes from is not as important as the survival of Nigeria.
“What the North is saying is that, there are constitutional provisions for how Presidents emerge. There is also a political process within which you can decide how it emerges. There is a law you cannot break and you can break that law by demanding that what is not in the constitution is done. Outside that, there is a political process, a very wide process and politicians know how that is done and they should do it. They should not break this country and the way they are going about it. It is going to cause a problem for the country.”
