http://www.newsportng.com.ng Coalition of Northern Groups, (CNG) has urged Northerners not to vote along religious, ethnic or sectional sentiment in the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
Spokesperson, CNG Comrade Suleiman Abdul’azeez, made the call at the sensitization rally organized by CNG at the Arewa House, Kaduna, said the region made mistake during the 2015 general elections.
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Abdul’azeez who lamented over what he termed as political dominance of elite against the interest of few said 2023 has significant meaning because Nigerians will not merely vote to transfer power from one administration to another, or from one party to another, but will vote to transfer power from a bankrupt elite, and give it back to the people.
He said, “For too long, a small group of condescending elite has reaped the rewards of government, while the people have borne the cost. These people and their families have flourished, but the people did not share in the nation’s wealth.
“Politicians and leaders we have elected have prospered, but the bulk of us are left jobless, homeless, helpless and hopeless. The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country.
“And while these elite celebrate with their families celebrated in world capitals, there has been nothing to celebrate for struggling families all across our land. 2023 would be special because the only thing that will truly matter to Citizens is not which party or which candidate controls our government in future, but whether our government is controlled by the people.
“At the center of this sensitisation initiative by the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) is a crucial conviction that a nation must exist to serve its citizens. We northerners in particular, want good schools for our children, secure and safe environments for our families, and good jobs for ourselves.
“These are just and reasonable demands of a people in a region from where politicians extract the bulk of their winning votes, but for too many of Northern citizens a different reality exists today: Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities and towns, businesses are closing, dead factories scattered across the landscape, an education system which leaves our young and industrious students deprived of all knowledge, and the crime, and the gangs, and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed the North of so much unrealized potential.
“The North, for the first time in 2015, closed all religious and ethnic gaps and voted in one direction with incredible expectations that leaders we elected will get us through and out of our limitations around security and the economy.Indeed, the North made a mistake in 2015 so that the deliberate commission or omission of the people we trusted with power has inadvertently isolated the region politically, economically and socially as a result of which, the once portent and progressive region is today begging not only for food, but for a place in the nation’s future political arrangement.
“The North has been abandoned to a critical security situation with its women widowed, children orphaned, youths maimed and killed and people displaced by the thousands.The simple explanation for the region’s current predicaments is that, its self-centred leaders merely misused all those decades of power for self -serving purposes at the expense of the majority that was and still is being forced through deprived education systems, poor health conditions and wage labour.
“The CNG is today urging you to be less reliant and less amenable to divisive political party propaganda and empty promises that have never, and would never be kept.If the price of voting along religious, ethnic or sectional sentiment is to become the most wretched, the most distressed, derided and most deprived, the North must therefore sincerely begin to ask itself if that price is worth paying.
The National Coordinator, CNG Comrade Jamilu Aliyu Charanchi, while Fielding questions from Journalists said the coalition is looking forward to a better Nigeria come 2023, hence the need to sensitize the people to vote right.
He said “although CNG does not have any candidate in mind, but have no choice than to root for someone who is competent, a patriot and knowledgeable about the economy to salvage Nigeria.
Also speaking at the event, Pastor Yohanna Buru, who spoke on politics of sentiment from religious perspective, said Northern Nigeria is disadvantaged in area of education, job opportunities and other infrastructures, adding that internal displaced persons, (IDPs) are everywhere due to insecurity despite the fact that the region have produced the most prosperous politicians in the country.
He said Northerners have been clouded with sentiments on religious ground especially during elections, urged them to do away with such attitude and vote for the right candidate with political prowess come 2023, noting that sentiment destroys relationship, breed disunity, injustice and confusion.
