ACF Have Not Endorsed Buhari.....Executive Member

 

SOME members of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) have dissociated themselves from the comments allegedly made by the chairman of the group, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie, in which he was said to have proclaimed the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential flag bearer, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, as a northern candidate.
Coomasie was quoted to have said on Saturday that the northern body had adopted the APC’s presidential candidate as the northern candidate against President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election.
Specifically, Coomasie was quoted as saying, “first of all, the APC presidential primary and PDP convention have clearly shown those who are ready to practice democracy. APC’s primary was held smoothly without any rancour, and all of them have come out to accept the result.
“That is a good omen for our democracy, and I hope that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will emulate that. So, we are congratulating Gen. Buhari who has been winning primaries all through. Only when it comes to the general elections is he rigged out. We have also seen what happened in the other party.
“I am the Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and we have said it before, but we are still reiterating it, that we are going to support the northern candidate. APC has voted a northern candidate, so we are going to support him 100 per cent. So, Buhari is our candidate for the 2015 election.”
But, irked by the stance of Coomasie, a member of the National Executive Council of the ACF, Alhaji Salisu Garba, who is also the Publicity Secretary of the Kaduna State chapter of the group, at a press conference yesterday, pointed out that Coomasie was on his own as members of the NEC have not met to endorse the former Head of State as the sole candidate of the north for the 2015 presidency.
Garba explained that until the ACF executive council releases its official position, the issue of endorsement of any particular presidential candidate for the 2015 election should be put to rest for the time being.
Garba also argued that the issue of critical concern is the position of the Vice-President, Namadi Sambo, who is also of northern extraction and was adopted by the ruling party which deserves consideration by the ACF.
He cautioned that the ACF should thread softly, stressing that “as a responsible body, ACF should summon courage to examine the merits or otherwise of each of the northern candidates contesting for the presidency on the platforms of other political parties before pronouncing its stand.
“This will be seen to be fair and just not only to the candidates but to the people of the North. Since ACF has made categorical stand to support any candidate from the north for the presidency, justice, equity and fairness demand that all the candidates from the north should be carefully assessed before a choice is made for the region.
“ACF is made up of men and women from different political groupings in the country, and that is more so why ACF should be positively critical in supporting a candidate. It is doubtful if the ACF policy and decision making organs, the National Working Committee (NWC), National Executive Committee (NEC) and its Board of Trustees (BoT), ever sat down to examine the personal and political merits of each candidate and articulate position to support a particular one.”
Garba said “based on the forgoing, it is apt to believe that the respected former Inspector-General of Police, Coomasie, was quoted out of contest by an overzealous section of the media as ACF executives did not sit to categorically endorse Buhari per se.”