The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has condemned the statement of the director of publicity and advocacy of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, that the North has the population to retain power in 2023 and lead Nigeria.
The party warned that elites should desist from statements that are capable of plunging the country into chaos.
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The ADC’s National Chairman, Chief Ralphs Okey Nwosu, said on Wednesday in Abuja that the statement by the NEF’s spokesperson is divisive, provocative and reckless.
He said that it is democratic and fair to give everyone equal opportunity to build a united country than employ divisive tendencies based on primordial and ethnic sentiments which, he added, would destroy the country.
Chief Nwosu, who urged elders to be unifiers of the country, noted that it was necessary to build a nation that can employ the country’s rich diversity values for quality and endearing policies.
“I am infuriated when any of our respected public intellectuals sound this way.
“Reducing our rich knowledge to North and South thinking creates the kind of dichotomy that impedes development and the kind of national cohesion needed to leverage our various people.
“Holding unto leadership by any group and creating the kind of poverty, insecurity and division we have now leverages none.
“Elites must become unifiers so that we can build a nation that is able to employ our rich diversity values for quality and endearing public policies.
“In a multi-ethnic country like ours, it is important we give everyone a sense of belonging to build a united country.
“I feel that aiming to use the gaps in the democratic process to dominate others or threaten them hurts everyone,” Nwosu said.
He said the nation needed to develop an elite culture that is beyond the myopic prism and should rather begin to challenge the status quo so that the nation’s youths can be inspired towards a direction that creates harmony, prosperity, security, peace and opportunities for all.
