The forum may be sectional but the object was essentially Nigerian. While the Arewa Consultative Forum was set up to pursue the interest of the north, it does not contradict the Nigerian project, or idea. It reinforces the concept of federalism in advancing the interest of a part as part of a whole, not apart from the commonwealth.

So, when the body invited major presidential candidates to articulate their ideas for northern Nigeria, it was no platform for irredentist rhetoric as we witnessed from former vice president Atiku Abubakar.

There was therefore no ground for the following assertion: “I think what the average northerner needs is somebody from the north, and who also understands the other parts of Nigeria and who has been able to build bridges across the rest of the country. This is what the northerner needs. He (northerner) doesn’t need a Yoruba candidate, or an Igbo candidate. This is what the northerner needs.”

He also stressed his point with these words: “We northerners always think about Nigeria more than other parts of the country. This is simply because we are multi-ethnic and multi-religious. There is no other ethnic group in the southwest other than Yoruba. There is no any other ethnic group in the southeast other than Igbo. That is why they identify themselves Yoruba nation or Igbo nation or whatever the call themselves. But in the north, you can only identify yourself as a northerner because we are multi-ethnic and multi-religious.”

Even in the hire-wire ethnic baiting of the civil war, and the hours leading to that fratricidal bloodbath, few citizens were even permitted to veer into such incendiary utterances.

Yet in Nigeria of today where many are conscious of divisive attitudes and words, such lines from a man who wants to lead a multi-ethnic nation, do not appreciate the fragile fabric of Nigeria.

He was blatantly calling northerners to vote a northern candidate, as though we are running a country in which parts are for parts and the rest be damned. This is not right. We have a country designed to foster co-existence. That rhetoric canonises the opposite. It sets a part against another. He mentions other major ethnic groups as well and demonises them. He says the northerner “does not need a Yoruba candidate, or an Igbo candidate.” For sure he was referring to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a Yoruba man; and Peter Obi, an Igbo man. Yet, he would have to bring his campaign train to the southwest or Yorubaland. He will bring his campaign train to Igboland. What does he expect the voters there to do? Does he expect them to believe him or accept him as a sincere lover of all Nigerians?

This is not his first such rhetoric to invoke the same spectre. He articulated the same sentiments in an interview with Arise Television Morning Show.

So, the response from his spokesman Paul Ibe that he was only joking underrates Nigerian intelligence. Here is his response:

“For the benefit of the innocent public who might be hoodwinked by the usual behavior of APC in telling a big lie, what transpired was a direct question to Atiku to address the Northern audience on why he should be voted for by the Northern electorate.

“In answering this question, Atiku started with a joke by addressing the questioner as ‘Mr. Northerner’ which is a veiled criticism of why he limited his question to the Northern audience in the first place.’’

If that was a joke, he took it too far. Granted it was, what we expect is not just to admit he said it but also to apologize and retract it. Up to the time of this essay, no such act of penitence or sensitivity has been made by the campaign, his spokesperson or even the candidate himself. It is disturbing that the party that has strong presences in other parts of the country would condone such a line from its frontrunner. Even now, the party is embroiled in a crisis of regional confidence afflicting not only the party chairman Iyorchia Ayu but also Atiku himself.

Atiku violated the law with that assertion. Section 97 of the Electoral Act states: “A candidate, person or association that engages in campaigning or broadcasting based on religious, tribal or sectional reason to promote or oppose a particular political party or the election of a particular candidate, commits an offence under this Act and is liable on conviction to (a) a maximum fine of N1m or imprisonment for a term of 12 months or both and (b) in the case of a political party, to a maximum of N10m.’’

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has not reacted to his speech. We expect some form of official sanction or apology. If nothing happens, it implies a bad precedent for our political elite and behavior.

His assertion also Implies that there are only two ethnic groups in the south, namely Igbo and Yoruba, and that the south is not multi-ethnic and multi-religious. Atiku who claimed to have built bridges in the south betrayed ignorance about the other geo-ethnic profile of the south, especially in the south-south region from where he picked his running mate, Ifeanyi Okowa, of Delta State.

He forgets that we have Muslims in the south and many ethnic groups from Urhobo to Afemai to Ijaw to even Ibibio where he flagged off his campaign in Uyo.

It Is obvious that Atiku was speaking for himself, not the north as northern groups and individuals have dissociated themselves from his poisonous assertion. We want rhetoric of peace and coexistence, not posturing of division. (The Nation)

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