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Consensus aspirant: Ciroma group fails to woo Northern senators
Mallam Adamu Ciroma EFFORTS by the Northern Political Leaders’ Forum to persuade senators from the region to support a northern presidential aspirant in the 2011 election have hit the brickwall. Investigations by THE PUNCH on Sunday revealed that the NPLF led by a former Minister of Finance, Mallam Adamu Ciroma, met with Northern Senators’ Caucus on Wednesday as part of efforts to shore up support for a consensus aspirant from the region. Besides the meeting which took place at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja, the forum has been contacting senators from the zone perceived to be supporting the presidential ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan on the telephone. The NPLF had set up a committee charged with the responsibility of picking one of the four PDP aspirants from the zone — Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Dr. Bukola Saraki and Lt.-Gen. Aliyu Gusau (retd.)— as a consensus presidential aspirant. Our correspondents learnt that Wednesday’s meeting and other contacts made by the forum were aimed at getting a block support from senators of northern extraction during the Peoples Democratic Party primaries. One of the senators at the meeting, who pleaded anonymity, because he did not want to antagonise the members of the committee, said that the forum had told the senators that Jonathan would use and dump them. He said, “They tried to woo senators from the north to support a northern candidate. They canvassed the idea that Jonathan does not reward those who work for him. “They said that the senators would not benefit anything from Jonathan as individuals, and that Jonathan was only concerned about the Niger Delta. That was the blackmail they used.” It was, however, learnt that the majority of the senators were not convinced by the arguments of the forum. The senator said, “You also know that some of the senators have their state governors already supporting Jonathan. so the senators, particularly those who are seeking another term, do not want to oppose their governors.” Efforts to get the Chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, Sen. Umaru Dahiru, were not successful as he did not pick his calls. He did not also reply an SMS sent to his telephone on Sunday. Ciroma, however, told one of our correspondents that the meeting with the senators was successful. Athough he refused to disclose the details of the meeting, he said there was no truth in the claim that the senators said they would not back a northern presidential aspirant. He said, “The meeting was fantastic. We had a fruitful deliberation. It was part of the things we are doing before picking our consensus aspirant. We are still meeting with other stakeholders and I can tell you that we are making progress.” In a related development, the Northern Parliamentary Forum in the House of Representatives has dissociated itself from the consensus presidential aspirant. According to the forum, its members have neither been contacted on the plan for the region to adopt a concensus aspirant nor have they entered into any discussions with the Ciroma-led group over the issue. There had been speculations that the Ciroma group had enlisted members of the National Assembly from the North to mobilise support for a consensus aspirant from the region. But, clarifying the stance of the northern lawmakers in the House, Mr. Terngu Tsegba said, “I am not yet in contact with the Ciroma group, as a caucus. As members of the House, we recognise everybody’s right to contests, including the incumbent President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.” Meanwhile, the Midddle-Belt Youth Forum has commended the North Central governors and political leaders from the zone for endorsing Jonathan. The MBYF said in a statement by its President, Mr. Jonathan Ishaku, that the people of the zone had accepted the Jonathan/ Namadi Sambo ticket as their “rightful choice” for 2011 polls. It criticised Ambassador Yahaya Kwande for condemning the North- Central governors and the political leaders for endorsing Jonathan and Sambo. The MBYF said, “ Kwande cannot boast of winning a ward election, let alone a local government council poll. We advise him to shut up and take his back seat position. “We the members of the forum unequivocally commend the purposeful and generally accepted endorsement of Dr. Jonathan by the majority of North-Central governors. “We equally want to state that an endorsement of 2/3 of the North Central governors (four out of six) for Jonathan is a clear indication that other aspirants within the zone should not bother to contest.”