Northern groups have replied a recent comment credited to Chief Ebenezer Babatope who said the region politicians should wait for their turn in 2019, and not in 2015.
Babatope, while speaking at a public function in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital over the week, asked the northerners to wait till 2019 after Jonathan’s tenure might have expired.
He said, “If Jonathan declares to contest the 2015 election, I will be among the people that will campaign for him. I submit that it is right and proper that the Ijaw man, President Goodluck Jonathan, completes his term in 2019.
“After that, if I am still alive, I will be one of those that will fight to ensure the North have its turn in 2019,” Babatope said.
While reacting, the leader of Coalition of Northern Politicians, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen, Dr. Junaid Mohammed said Babatope lacked the moral authority to speak on behalf of the north.
According to Junaid, Babatope was part of a group of people around the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo who rejected a similar suggestion offered the late sage in 1979/ 1980.
“None of these people who are telling the North these things have justified what they are asking the North to do. Is what they are asking based on any rational ground?
“If you want somebody to wait for something, tell him why you want him to do that. Who is Babatope?
“He was one those who made a career vilifying everything northern.
“If these are the kind of people who expect the North to take advice from them, then we will tell them to go and hang themselves. We are not going to take their advice.”
Junaid stressed that democracy was a game of number, and as such, shutting the majority out of any of the processes was out of the question.
Speaking in a similar vein, the Northern Elders Forum said just like every other Nigerian, Babatope was entitled to his opinion.
Similarly, spokesman for the Forum, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, while reacting Lambasted Babatope over his assertion. He said, “Like every other Nigerian, Babatope is entitled to his opinion. He was even more charitable than some other individuals who were even suggesting that northerners should not even vie at all.”
Comments