The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Northern Nigeria’s most influential socio-cultural organisation, has warned 2023 presidential aspirants not attuned to the region’s security challenges not to bother seeking its support.
According to the forum, any candidate that would gain its support must display a deep understanding of the security challenges plaguing the region.
ACF’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr Emmanuel Yawe, stated this in Kaduna on Wednesday, The Punch reported.
His assertion came two days after the forum released a statement which rebuked President Muhammadu Buhari over his administration’s failure to secure the region.
The statement titled ‘ACF condemns endless killings in the North’ and signed by the spokesman read in part, “We feel there is no need to call on President Buhari to live up to his oath of office. He knows more than anybody else the implications of swearing on the Quran and refusing to honour your oath to the Almighty.”
On Wednesday, he added that the group would not be involved with candidate selection for the election but would ensure the successful candidate met its criteria.
“The ACF does not and will not get involved in the affairs of political parties like selection of presidential candidates. All the political parties are welcome in the ACF.
“For the forum to get involved in the process of the multitude of political parties and select a presidential candidate for each will create too many problems. It is not even feasible or desirable for a mere pressure group like the ACF.
“We shall allow the parties to select their presidential candidates and once that is done, we shall scrutinise each of them. We have published our concerns about security and will continue doing so on other issues.
“Any politician with ears and eyes on 2023 should listen and see. Definitely if any fails to understand the security and other problems of the north, we will not support him,” Yawe said.
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