How we will selected presidential candidate for 2019 - Northern elders

macfranc007 March 08, 2018 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Nigerian newspapers 24/7 Omotayo Yusuf

- Northern elders say they will adopt a consensus presidential candidate

- Tanko Yakassai said they have not adopted a candidate yet

- He advised the government to solve the herdsmen-farmers clash

Northern leaders have promised to assess all northern candidates adopted by all political parties and select a consensus candidate ahead of the 2019 presidential election.

Vanguard reports that the leaders inaugurated “standing committees that will not only drive home their political consideration, but also ensure the crises that have since plagued the region were adequately tackled with attendant restoration of permanent peace.”

The committees include 2019 presidential elections, restructuring, security and other strategic areas and are expected to submit their report by March 31.

They dismissed the adoption of President Muhammadu Buhari for the 2019 by some state chapters of All Progressives Congress. They noted that only the party’s convention can adopt him for his bid.

Alhaji Tanko Yakassai who is the chairman of the organisation said: “There is a provision for adopting candidates and so far, we have not seen that happened to President Muhammadu Buhari, following his rumoured second term bid. And until that is done, any adoption by state chapters of his party is not legal.

“The constitution of APC or other political parties has not provided for the executives of the parties to nominate candidates; it is only the convention that does that. Ours is an organisation whose doors are opened to all, we are not here for a particular political party.”

“If the President had summoned a stakeholders’ meeting between farmers and herdsmen, traditional rulers, political and religious leaders, National Assembly and all of that, and laid the issue before them, some ideas would be developed to provide direction for the government to follow.”

He also spoke about the farmers-herdsmen crises suggesting that ranches rather than reserves should be adopted.

He said: “I am from Kano and I served past government of Kano State for eight years and one of the programmes initiated by the late governor of Kano State, Audu Bako, was ranching. And I think it’s a good idea if the whole country can adopt it.

“We have an interesting geographical distribution. While there is rain here, in the next place, there is no rain. So you can see that these are challenges that have to be tackled through collective efforts.”

Meanwhile, a former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Austin Opara, and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) called on former President Olusegun Obasanjo to advise members of his coalition to join the party to unseat the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.

In an interview with the Vanguard, Opara gave insight into the recent letter of former president Obasanjo to Buhari, insisting that there cannot be a better time for such call than now.

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