A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Sokoto State, Alhaji Ibrahim Magaji, Monday said the people of the North would support President Goodluck Jonathan's candidacy if he decides to seek re-election, adding that Northern leaders had failed the region and had no moral justification to insist on the return of the presidency to the North in 2015. He also denied that the former Minister of Sports, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman, was planning to defect from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC), stressing that there was no iota of truth in the malicious rumours making the round in the state. Speaking in Sokoto on Friday, Magaji maintained that those insisting on northern presidency in 2015 were only after their selfish interest.
Magaji, who was the deputy governorship candidate of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change in the 2012 election, noted that the North had produced many presidents since independence and yet did nothing tangible for the region. He lamented that all the legacies that were bequeathed to the North by the late premier of Northern region, late Sir Ahmadu Bello, had been left to decay by northern leaders at the detriment of the people.
"The North has produced many presidents in Nigeria and yet they have not done anything tangible for the economic wellbeing of the people. Tell me what the Northern leaders have done for the people of the North?
"In fact, all the economic advancements they inherited from the defunct Northern Nigeria that were achieved by the late Sardauna have been allocated to themselves. They allocated Hamdala Hotels to themselves, If you look at Arewa textiles, NNDC, NDIC, New Nigeria Newspapers, among others, they are all comatose.
"If you hear these people talking about northern presidency, they need something and want to protect their stolen assets and loot hidden in various European countries like United Kingdom, United States of America and Russia.
"These Northern leaders want to get something for themselves and their children and once they get money to fill their pockets, then to hell with the people of the North. So, I don't envisage any northerner becoming president to save the North,"Magaji said.
Magaji berated northern governors for not doing enough to tackle insecurity in the region and accused them of using political thugs against perceived opponents.
He further lampooned politicians for using religion to deceive the people, saying northern leaders had no justification to insist on the return of presidency to the North, as they do not have the interest of the people at heart. "Jonathan being a christian is not new and cannot be used against him now. Is it not the same northern governors that fought for and voted for him in 2011 to become the president? Were they not aware that he was a Christian then?
"The problem of insecurity is a problem of our governors and they can solve it. I am 64 years old and conversant with Nigerian politics for over four decades. What I know is that any northerner that wants to become a president is never a president for northern Nigeria but a president for himself and his family,"Magaji stated. He asserted that the former minister of sports, Yusuf Suleiman had no plans to join APC, saying the rumour was being peddled by detractors in order to create disaffection in the PDP in the state.
"Suleiman is a founding member of the PDP in Sokoto State and has no plan to leave the party that gave him the opportunity to be a minister of transport and subsequently minister of sports. "So, this rumour is the antics of our detractors. You see, the APC leaders are behind this rumour because they lost supporters and Suleiman is the only person among the contestants in the PDP that they are really scared of," he added.
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