…Says ACF, Northern elders can’t install president
ABUJA, August 18, (THEWILL) –Â The North has been asked again to bury its quest to grab the 2015 presidency as the military governor of Plateau State, Major General Lawrence Onoja (rtd), added his voice to this growing assertion on Sunday in Abuja.
Onoja, who succinctly asked the army of northern agitators to forget about the presidency for now, declared that President Goodluck Jonathan is constitutionally entitled to a second term.
The former military governor also said as far as the 2015 is concerned, socio/political groups like the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and Northern Elders Forum (NEF) do not speak for the entire north, adding that the Middle Belt is strongly behind a second term for Jonathan.
Speaking with newsmen in Abuja, Onoja said although every group has a right to agitate for power, the Middle Belt would show solidarity to Jonathan ahead of the 2015 presidency because being a president from the minority tribe, the Middle Belt also has been treated as a minority in the North.
On the question of power shift to the North, Onoja said “every group has a right to ask for power but I believe power is not given that way. You work for it. I want to let you know categorically here that it is not yet time for power to shift to the North. Mr. President has not done his second term. All the other Presidents were given opportunity to do their second terms and Mr. President by virtue of the fact that he is a minority like me, it would be unfair and an injustice to stop him from doing his second term. If he finishes his second term in 2019, then other areas or blocks can now begin to agitate for power shift. I think it is only fair to allow Mr. President do his second term.”
Replying ACF, NEF on their insistence that presidency must return to the North, Onoja said: “There could be anger in certain parts of the North. But there is no anger against Jonathan in my own Middle Belt part of the North. We support Jonathan for his second term. Every group has the fundamental right to agitate for power.
“The groups that are talking, the Northern Elders, Arewa,  are not political parties. They are socio-political cum cultural associations. So they probably cannot install a President. At best they are talking of supporting a candidate from the North. You don’t blame me for saying that my own people support Jonathan.
“This is because assuming the power comes to the North today would you tell them to concede power to the Idoma people where I come from because I am a minority in the North and Jonathan is a minority from South South. Why don’t you allow him finish his second term then after that any other group can now begin to agitate for power.”
He further dispelled insinuations that the entire North is united on the demand for power to return to the region, saying it is a misconception.
“There is a misconception. The North of the 60s when Sardauna was alive is no long the same North today. Let me correct that misconception, I am from Middle Belt which is a geographical reality today. I am an active member of Congress for Equality and Change which is a non political association. I am also a member of Middle Belt Forum. So, if you say I am from the North, and you are referring to the old North yes, I am from the North, but now, the Middle Belt is a geographical reality and I am a member of the Middle Belt. I am not from the core North,” he said.
Underscoring the divide in the North, he said: “The demarcation has been there all along. It is just that the leaders that we had before, had the responsibility of making sure that we work together as the same North. But yesterday is not the same as today. People have been educated, exposed, so if yesterday, some group of persons were dictating to us today, people will not accept the dictation of anybody again. We, in the Middle Belt are strong enough to go on our own in any situation.”
On whether there could be a united North again, he said:Â Â “You cannot precisely give an answer to a political situation. It is difficult to say there will be one North again because in the 60s due to the leadership provided by Sardauna of Sokoto, from what I was told because I was in primary school then, I woke up one day to see light and water in my home Otukpo.
“Then we had Ministers from our place but our people said these things were provided by Sardauna. And most of the people working around Sardauna, the Sunday Awoniyi’s and a number of people were Christians. So the picture I had as a young man then was this man is a detribalised leader. This is the kind of leaders we are looking for. Then the North had the concept of one North. But the times have changed and the elders we have in the North today are not the same with Sardauna. So I have my doubts if the North will be one North again because of events that have occurred between 1960 and now.”
Onoja also countered claims that the core North has been more marginalised than the Middle Belt in occupation of prominent offices in the country.  “What about the people that were politically elected from the North east in the 60s. Add their own. You mentioned Gowon and Babangida, those were military presidents. I am talking of democratically elected situation. That is what I am talking about. Gowon was there to service the country, there was war. I fought the war as a young officer. The idea was that we want the country to be united. So if he stayed for nine years it was because of the exigency of the situation that made him to stay there. And in Babangida’s case it was a military time. I am talking about democratically elected Presidents.
“Jonathan, having served four years should be allowed to serve another four years. It is a very simple thing in 2019, any group in the North can now try towards capturing power. Like you said if it would come to the Middle Belt by that time it would be decided by Nigerians and the political parties that are working for the good of this country. It cannot be decided by me and you. But everybody has a right to agitate, even the Northern elders, but we from the Middle Belt support Jonathan and we are saying he must do his second term. I am from the minority. With strict elections in this country, Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo, they keep winning because of numbers.
“God has brought us somebody from the minority who is now our President. After four years, you are asking him to go and that power should return to another place. I am saying I don’t support it as an individual. I support him doing a second term. And then after that the power can now go anywhere.
“Then if we in the Middle Belt want power we fight for it, campaign for it by telling Nigerians why power must come to us. And if the core Northern elders want it, they have to convince Nigerians with all the available statistics as to why they want it,” he said.
