2019: We’ll Not Endorse Buhari — Arewa

The Pro-northern political group, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has stated that the body will not endorse the candidacy of President Muhammad Buhari or any other person insisting that the group intend to remain neutral in the 2019 general elections.

President Buhari is seeking a second term in office under the canopy of the APC and he looks set to clinch the party’s ticket after it was revealed that he was the only candidate who bought and submit the nomination forms.

However, Buhari will face a huge challenge from any of the aspirant the PDP puts forward as he is likely to be from the north. To this end, the ACF had decided to stay clear of partisan politics. The group however stressed that President Buhari’s re-election should be tied to his performance in the last four years.

“ACF was in favour of Buhari in 2015 because of his pedigree which centered on integrity, patriotic courage and perseverance needed for purposeful leadership.

“As regards the performance of this regime, the assessment has to be against the campaign promises as contained in the APC manifesto to tame terrorism and corruption for the express purposes of enabling the economy to take root and thrive by way of diversification.

“The fact checks should include an analysis of the movements of some economic indices from 2010 to 2015 and from thence to date in order to see whether this regime has brought about any significant change or not.’’

“We remember attacks by Boko Haram under the immediate past regime used to be ubiquitous across northern states and very frequent with heavy casualties. But the coming of the APC administration has changed all that.

“Today the attacks are now localised in fringes of North East and soft targets are their focus. As a result, normal life has since returned to the North save for fringes of the North East,” ACF Secretary General, Elder Anthony Sani said.