NORTHERN NIGERIA, 2015 PRESIDENCY IS YOURS, ONLY YOU CAN LOSE IT

Northern Nigeria has the largest landmass in Nigeria. North’s landmass of 600,000sq km constitutes two-third of Nigeria’s total landmass.  It has 19 out of Nigeria’s 36 states and when you add the Federal Capital Territory(FCT), Abuja, which the constitution says should be treated as if it were a state, the North has 20 states. For anybody to be elected president in 2015 he needs to get majority of the votes cast and must also win two-third of the states of the federation. It means the person has to win in at least 24 out of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory. So if the North has a candidate who is supported by the whole region, it means the person would have 20 states in the bag even before the first vote is cast in other regions of the country. Now, 2015 looks so promising to the North because for the first time in the political development of Nigeria, the mainstream Yoruba establishment led by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu appears to have resolved to ally with the North to produce a president for Nigeria. The Southwest appears to be fed up with playing the opposition all the time. So if you add the five states of the Southwest(excluding Ondo State) to the 20 states in the North including the FCT, the candidate of a united north will have 25 states. This is more than enough to produce the next president. This is however where the good news ends, because unless the North choice the right candidate, it will not produce the next president. What kind of presidential candidate must the North present if it must produce the next occupant of Aso Rock? The candidate must be a unifier. The greatest undoing of the north would be to produce a divisive candidate who would polarize the region and divide its votes. Truth be told, ethnic and religious bigots have put a knife on the things that held the North together and The North Have Fallen Apart. So the North needs a leader who would restore trust and faith on the disparate tribes and religions of the region. As a friend of the North and one who can count many Northerners as my very close and reliable friends , I want to make an intervention in the quest for a unifier who will heal the North and bring hearts and mind together. Haven taken a critical look on the politicians of Northern extraction qualified to be president in 2015(and there are many that are qualified), only one person stands out as the unifier that the North and the country need. This person is, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, the governor of Niger State and the chairman of the Northern Governors Forum(NGF). Why Babangida Aliyu? Aliyu is the governor of Niger State, a state which is like a mini-North and indeed a mini-Nigeria. It is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious state in the North, where under the leadership of Aliyu you hardly hear of any tension between Muslims and Christians or between any of the many ethnic groups in the state. What happened in Madalla in December 25, 2011, the Madalla Bombing in Suleja, a blusterous town close to the nation’s capital Abuja was a misnomer. In any case  Kabiru Sokoto who is alleged to be the mastermind of the bombing is not a Nigerlite. He is from Sokoto. Since that unfortunate Christmas bombing in 2011, Nigerians have never heard of such horrendous attack again, because it is not in the character of Nigerlites under the leadership of Aliyu to be religious bigots. And if you want to know how the mind of Aliyu works as a unifier in his state and which can be translated to the whole of the North where such gestures are needed, take a look at what he did recently. Early this month, the governor appointed former head of state, General Abdulsalami Abubakar as the head of a mosque committee and former minister of information, Prof Jerry Gana as the head of a church committee, of the mosque and church respectively, to be built in the newly created Three Armed Zone in Minna, the state capital. The two worship centres have 5,000 worshipers capacity for the Muslims and 4,800 worshipers capacity for the Christians. The centres will also contain an imam residence, pastor’s residence as well as deputy pastor’s residence.  The man wants to show to the north, Nigeria and indeed the world that the two religions can co-habit peacefully without rancor.  In most of his appointments into the state executive council, competency determines who gets what even as he ensures equity in the distribution of positions. Babangida’s landmark achievements in infrastructural development using the ward development projects model, and how he made Niger State the largest producer of rice in Nigeria since he assumed office and his ability to propel Niger to be the state with the lowest level of poverty in the country(check National Bureau of Statistics Report 2012) is a story for another day. This is despite the fact that Niger State which has the largest landmass in Nigeria, receives one of the least federal allocations monthly. If the North rejects Aliyu and bring any of the well known divisive candidates in 2015, it would lose the presidency. And when the North loses politicians should not send angry youths they have been marginalizing to the streets burning houses and killing innocent Nigerians claiming the election has been rigged thereby destroying what remains from the ongoing destructions by the insurgents. Nobody can successfully rig a presidential election in united North, but a disunited North is a fair game. North, if you want 2015 presidency look for a unifier; look for Babangida Aliyu. As said, if you reject Aliyu and a candidate outside the North wins in 2015 do not destroy your zone and kill innocent people who rejected your divisive candidate claiming that the election has been rigged.