Lar Blasts ACF Over Jonathan

Posted by admin Arewa House, Latest Politics Sunday, January 30th, 2011

Says it doesn’t represent the North || Elder statesman and Second Republic governor of Plateau State Chief Solomon Lar has lashed out at the leadership of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) over its rejection of the candidature of President Goodluck Jonathan for this year’s polls.

Lar said the ACF does not the represent the North and the composition of the leadership of the socio-cultural organisation, except its chairman, should not be taken seriously.

The pioneer national chairman of the PDP and now leader of the Northern Political Leaders (NPL), who spoke to LEADERSHIP SUNDAY on phone from his base in Jos, the capital of Plateau State, urged President Jonathan not to lose sleep over the development, assuring him of overwhelming support from the North in the April polls.

His words: “The thing is, what do they mean ‘the North’? The party primary has been conducted and President Goodluck Jonathan is accepted in the North. There are 19 states in the North and he won overwhelmingly in most of the states.

“They do not represent the North, the [ACF] people do not represent the North. We are the northerners. I am the oldest politician in the North. No decision can be taken in the North without me. We are solidly behind President Jonathan. Jonathan has 80-90 per cent support in the North. I am disappointed with these people. When I look at it, there is no reasonable man in the ACF. Their chairman does not agree with them.

“We are talking about Nigeria. President Jonathan is the president of Nigeria. He is not a president of one section. All the sections have endorsed him. He should not listen to them.”

ACF rose from its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, last week in Kaduna, and issued a communiqué wherein it rejected the candidature of President Jonathan.

The communiqué said that it was morally and legally wrong for the PDP to present President Jonathan as its presidential flag-bearer, noting that, by the party’s constitution, the presidency should come from the North until 2015, going by its zoning and rotation policy.

Some ACF members later dissociated themselves from the communiqué, stating that the NEC meeting did not discuss the issue, nor did it give the communiqué drafting committee such mandate.

However, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State has assured that President Jonathan would win over the support of the leadership of ACF, an indication that The Presidency may be reaching out to the leaders.

-Leadership

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