Goodluck's supporters the Citizens Network For Peace and Development in Nigeria back Tinubu

FORMER President Goodluck Jonathan's close supporters have abandoned the Peoples Democratic Party's (PDP) presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and thrown their weight behind his rivals saying the rotational principle has got to be sacrosanct.

In February, Nigeria goes to the polls and the frontrunners in the presidential race include former Lagos State governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Kano State governor Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) and former Anambra State governor Peter Obi of the Labour Party. Alhaji Abubakar would have expected to get the full backing of the PDP but this is not proving to be the case.

Already a group of PDP governors known as the G5 have expressed their opposition to the former vice president's candidacy.  Although not constitutional, Nigeria's component parts have a gentleman's agreement that the presidency will rotate between the north and the south of the country.

President Muhammadu Buhari's tenure will end in 2023 and being a Fulani northern Muslim, it is expected that the next president will come from southern Nigeria. Alhaji Abubakar is another Fulani Muslim from northern Nigeria, so his candidacy has automatically generated controversy as it is a negation of the gentleman's agreement upon which Nigeria's democracy is founded.

Now the Citizens Network For Peace and Development in Nigeria (CNPDN), a group made up of  Dr Jonathan's supporters and kinsmen, said that since he declined to join the race, the right thing to do is to support Asiwaju Tinubu, who they said, has the structure and capacity to win the election. Earlier in the year, CNPDN, was among the first southern groups to openly urge former president Dr Jonathan to run for office as an APC candidate.

Dr Jonathan had promised to consult widely but he later declined to join the APC and enter the race, thus paving the way for Asiwaju Tinubu to emerge as the APC candidate.  Chief Francis Wainwei, the CNPDN general secretary, who, like Dr Jonathan, hails from Bayelsa State, said that as patriotic citizens, they could not sit back and not participate in the electoral process of the country.

He added:  “As patriotic citizens under the auspices of the Citizens Network For Peace and Development in Nigeria, we took it up as a burning need for us to be actively involved in the process leading to the election of Nigeria’s next president, who shall be taking over from President Muhammadu Buhari next year. We consider it as very important and necessary because Nigeria needs a truly visionary, competent and detribalized leader to enthrone a more united, peaceful and prosperous nation.

"As patriotic citizens we feel obliged to take some proactive measures to ensure that the right president is elected, come 2023 by providing proper information and guidance that will enable the electorate elect the right candidate as president. We therefore, took it upon ourselves to do thorough investigations, opinion sampling and interviewing of major stakeholders from across the country to know the exact mood of the nation ,to enable the electorate make the right choice for the 2023 presidential election.

“We also took into consideration the declarations of both the APC Northern Governors’ Forum and that of the Southern Governors’ forum, with respect to which part of the country that should produce the next president in 2023. Both groups declared that power should shift to southern Nigeria for the purpose of promoting equity, justice and fairness, which they argued would strengthen the unity of the country.

“After a forensic analysis of the declarations and opinions of various groups and stakeholders across the country, we also came to the conclusion that for the peace, unity and progress of this country, a competent and experienced presidential candidate from southern Nigeria be elected as president, come 2023. This is to strengthen the fragile unity we are experiencing at the moment, as a nation. It will appease some groups and individuals agitating against the political domination of others by any one part of the country.

“We went further to examine the capacity, competence, political experience and nationwide acceptability of the presidential candidates from southern Nigeria and we discovered that Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress tops the other candidates. We hereby declare our total support for Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate, as our preferred candidate for the office of president, Federal Republic of Nigeria, come 2023."