2023 Presidency: What would determine our choice candidate — NEF

…Critical interrogation basis of selection, options open, not region based

…Choice candidate must prove willingness, capacity to address Country’s woes

…Says North would vote Tinubu if he proves he represents “the best option”

…Vows not to toll 2015 experience of block support for Buhari

By Moses Adeniyi

The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has said the benchmark for its choice candidate for the 2023 Presidency would be premised on critical interrogation to determine the best man for the seat, vowing not to mobilise support blindly as was the case in 2015.

This is just as the forum has said it would throw its weight of support behind the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and by extension the party, only if he, Tinubu, convinces the North he represents “the best option” for the interest of the region and to address critical issues confronting the Country.

This is just as the body also said it would not toll the 2015 experience where it blindly mobilised support for President Muhammadu Buhari as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The NEF spokesperson, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, said for 2023, the Elders forum would give critical consideration to evaluate all the presidential candidates, and would only throw its weight of support behind only the candidate who is able to prove, convincingly, the strategies to address the problems of the Country, taking also the interest of the North with utmost concern.

Lamenting that it warned Nigerians against voting for President Buhari in 2019 over his inability to answer questions on how to solve the critical problems of the Country, Baba-Ahmed said the choice candidate of the forum for 2023 would be such that proves plans to address prevailing problems of the North.

According to him, the choice candidate must reveal convincing plans to address issues of security, economy, education, over 34 million out-of-school children, mostly pronounced in the North, matters of coexistence, and restructuring, among others.

He said upon “very serious interrogation” which would form the basis to support any candidate, the forum would give direction to northerners on which way to go.

According to him, the Northern elders have drawn an idea on what the next president should look like, stating that regardless of which part of the Country   the candidate comes from, he has to satisfy “that he has the mental capacity; physical capacity; the intellect and willingness to tap into the best that is available; sensitivity to a number of key issues that are central to our survival as a Country.

“At this stage our options are open, we would not vote on narrow prisms like where you come from. We would support a northerner if we think he is the best and we don’t need to apologise for that at all.

“We would support a southerner if we believe that he is the best that can do justice to the interest of the North as well as the interest of other parts of the Country. That has always been our position; it hasn’t change. What we are emphasising here is that we are looking for the best that is available,” the NEF spokesman said, while featuring in an interview on Sunday Politics, Channels Television programme.

“This time the north is not just going to work for any candidate,” Baba-Ahmed stressed.

He said the Forum would critically and rigorously interrogate all candidates to determine the best through its strategies of engagement, adding that the interrogation would equally help the strategic plans of willing candidates.

“All the candidates that are williing, we would put them through rigorous process.

“We campaigned against Buhari. We told Nigerians not to vote for Buhari in 2019 because Buhari didn’t do well in his first four years,” he said.

Asked whether they are throwing their weight of support behind Alh. Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said the northerners would support “the best candidate that proves he or she represents the best interest for the north.”

Stating that they bear the responsibility to give directions to northerners on “which side to go,” he said the forum would exercise the responsibility very seriously on the choice of the 2023 presidential election.

The NEF spokesman said this time, they would not mobilise blindly, but would be very interrogative against the mistake of 2015 when they blindly threw support behind Buhari.

Asked if there is another chance for Buhari’s party, the APC, to get support from the forum in 2023, he said, “If it’s Tinubu who is on that platform, if Tinubu convinces us and we in turn engage other people to say that we believe that Tinubu represent the best option, we would support him.”