Northern group under the auspices of Progressive Movement for Democracy (PMD) on Saturday inaugurated steering committee members who were given the mandate to begin the search for President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor come 2023.

They were also given the mandate to search for a credible and reputable candidate that has the interest of the North and will succeed the president.

According to them, the need to commence the process of searching for Buhari’s successor now is to avoid tension, disunity and political crisis that are capable of creating crack in the North.

Speaking during the inaugural meeting of the movement on Saturday, the Interim chairman, Hon Muhammad Auwal Musa, noted that today no northerner is happy over what is happening in the country especially the region.

“The security challenge and poverty ravaging the region is unprecedented. We cannot fold our arms and continue to watch until the entire region is consumed.

“We have seen how Boko Haram infiltrated Borno, how bandits destroyed Zamfara, how kidnapping is now in Kaduna and now moving to Abuja.

“We want a united front to fight for the interest of the north ahead of the 2023 election just like we did in 2014 when APC was established.

“President Muhammadu Buhari will leave as president in 2023, we decided to come together and tobring northernersunder one umbrella so that we can channel our cause for development and political alignments.

“Our committee was given the responsibility to search for a qualified and suitable presidential candidate with interest of our region.

“We must work and explore all political avenues toidentify creditable aspirants thathave the leadership capacity for quality representation at all levels of contest.

“Our youths must recognise that political apathy, violence or protest can’t help our cause or development, but our ability to remain united which is a great weapon for lobby and relevance.

“The movement is also formedto create a platform for discussing our common problems, challenges and solutions. It is properly registered with all relevant documents in place

“We started from Jigawa with an already established leadership structure, so we didn’t need to form a new group.”

The steering Committee Members cut across the seven northwest states: Kano, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi. (Nigerian Tribune)