Secretary-General of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Anthony Sani, speaks with GODWIN ISENYO on a number of national issues including why the forum was against the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, in the recent election
What is your view on the just concluded general elections in the country?
I
think there was a kind of improvement over the past elections.
Nigerians, who have become more enlightened, helped to change what used
to hold sway in the previous elections in which only big names called
the shots. In a way, plutocracy and kleptocracy are giving way to
democracy that is premised on triple foundation of justice, liberty and
decency. Did you see what happened to those who defected from their
political parties? There are some states where President Muhammadu
Buhari won with a wide margin but the contests for the governorship were
a different ball game. In fact, some governors might lose those states
in the rerun that arose from the contests. That shows the electorate
considered not just political parties but the performance and character
of the candidates as well. This is heartening and healthy development
for our democracy.
Before the presidential election, the
ACF endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the candidate of the All
Progressives Congress against a fellow northerner and candidate of the
Poeples Democrtaic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. What informed this
decision?
It is true that it is not the policy and practice of
the ACF to endorse party candidates outright. What the forum does is to
provide leadership qualities required for purposeful leadership and
party manifesto of political parties and performance of candidates. This
is to enable voters to make informed judgement during elections. But
that does not mean when the need arises, the ACF would not endorse a
candidate. You know there is always a deviation from the norm. In the
extant case, the forum was of the view that inspite of some shortcomings
of the APC, the ruling party, it is still the best for the country in
the circumstance; moreso, that the main opposition party (PDP) made
restructuring of the country and sale of the government assets its
campaign mantra. This is against the fact that this country has
undergone different kinds of restructuring, such as political, economic
and geographical; and any further restructuring may be unhelpful. And
given the fact that the past sale of government assets did not yield the
desired results, the forum was not favourably disposed to any further
sale of the government assets. Rather, prudent management of national
resources should be what matters. After all, Lagos State is being
governed under the same structure and form of government which some
people believe is not working.
But the ACF had earlier said it
had no preferred presidential candidate for the 2019 election. Why did
the group make a sudden U-turn?
The outright endorsement of
President Buhari was spurred by the need for the regime to consolidate
on its performance, against the campaign by the PDP candidate to
restructure the country and sell government asset such as the NNPC as
well as the character of the parties concerned.
How do you react
to the allegation that the ACF was heavily pressured or forced to
endorse the President since the PDP candidate was endorsed by some
socio-cultural bodies such as the Afenifere, Middle Belt Forum, Northern
Elders Forum, PANDEF and the Ohanaeze Ndigbo?
The ACF was not
pressured by anybody or government to endorse President Buhari. The
endorsement was done after due consideration of the performance,
campaign promises and strength of character of the parties concerned.
Source:- Punchng
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