The Arewa Joint Committee has distanced itself from the comment made by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The group insists he on his own regarding the statement about 2023 northern presidency.
The Chairman of the Steering Committee, Mallam Murtala Aliyu, while speaking to journalists on Tuesday said that Atiku’s view does not represent the position of the group.
The Joint Committee comprises six Northern groups namely; Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Arewa House, Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation, Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Arewa Research and Development Project (ARDP) and Jamiyyar Matan Arewa.
While addressing the committee in Kaduna State on Saturday Atiku said that “an average Northerner does not need a Yoruba or Igbo president, but a northern President who is a pan-Nigerian.”
He said this in response to a question on why he should get the votes of the people of the region.
Since the statement went viral, it has attracted widespread criticism from many many Nigerians within and outside his party and his region.
Addressing journalists on the matter, Mallam Aliyu said whatever the presidential candidates say during their interaction is purely their personal opinions and not that of the group.
He, therefore, called on Atiku to clear himself with Nigerians.
He said, “Atiku should clear himself. The same question asked by the Committee was administered to other presidential candidates too. So we have no business with the opinion expressed by our guests.”
“We Have Not Endorsed Any Candidate
The joint committee further stated that their intention is not to endorse any candidate, nor have they endorsed any but to give a platform for all the candidates to publicly make known their plans for the north so Nigerians can make informed decisions.
The chairman added that playing politics along ethnic or religious lines is dangerous and the committee does not encourage such.
He said: “These interactions in themselves were not planned with the goal of endorsing a candidate. They are part of a longer process that plans to generate commitments to address the challenges of the North by candidates, and which covers a substantial part of the campaigning period.
“We plan to extract and publish these commitments so that Nigerians may measure and evaluate candidates against them. Our goal is to afford citizens an opportunity to match candidates against their commitments to matters that are central to the interests of the North.
“Until the elections in February, 2023 the North will be challenged to raise its vigilance over all electoral activities. It is vital that we priotize evidence of competence, integrity, quality of preparation and commitment to address the challenges of the North among candidates.
“We will continue to invite attention of the government to the security of the electoral process, and in particular the vulnerability of many parts of the North to organize crime which may posed a serious threat to their right to participate in electing the next sect of leaders in 2023.
“The need to show restraint and discipline as politicians canvass for our elections has never been more pressing . The entire Nation must be open to all contestants and free from violence.
“The exploitation of ethnic and religious fault lines is extremely dangerous, and the nation is already showing signs of stress owing to this exploitation.”
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