2023: Ignoring Northern votes is risky, Arewa group tells presidential candidates

By Konyinsola Dawodu

The Arewa New Agenda (ANA) has told the presidential candidates for the 2023 elections to ignore votes from the 19 northern states at their own peril.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja, Coordinator and Convener of the group, Senator Ahmad Abubakar MoAllahyidi, said they were engaging the presidential candidates towards meeting the needs of the North.

MoAllahyidi said the political realities and figure from the last two election cycles indicate that votes from the Northern region was 75% of the votes received by the winning party; “the South West by virtue of the merger added 13% to this; to bring the total haul to 88%.”

“The critical inference from this is that without the votes from the south west, the winning party will still have won the election, but will lack the 25% spread amongst 2/3rd of the 36 State requirement for outright victory,” he said.

He added that the Arewa Agenda 2023 is meant to set an agenda for the protection of the interest of the north in relation to the determinant role it will play in the emergence of the eventual winner of the presidential election in 2023.

He went further to say “The insecurity is a National concern and any coming administration must take it seriously. We are a pan Northern Group that seeks to engage the issues of the day, we want qualitative person that can engage with these issues.

“We are engaging with Presidential candidates, we know them, their antecedent and track record of performance.”