25th February, 2015
Jamiu Yisa
A big fight broke out among the Arewa Traditional Council of Chiefs in the southwestern part of the country at the weekend over how to share the $100,000 President Goodluck Jonathan allegedly gave them to seek their support for his second term ambition.
The endorsement of Mr President by the Arewa Council of Chiefs was held in Lagos last weekend.
According to Musa Muhammed, organising Secretary, All Progressives Congress, Agege Local Government, “Mr President gave those who went to endorse him $100,000 and they fought over it. We have video evidence of where they were fighting over the money and shouting at one another.
“Even before they left the place, they started fighting, saying some part of the money had disappeared.
“Those who endorsed Jonathan cannot speak for us. They can’t even endorse Jonathan in their household, let alone talk on behalf of the entire Arewa Community in the southwest. They can’t endorse him in their respective houses.
“Mr President is very desperate now. If you gathered stones now and mould them to look like human beings, Jonathan is ready to give them money, Nigeria’s money.”
Speaking at a press conference in Lagos , the Chairman of Arewa Community, southwest, Kabiru Abdulahi said the endorsement of the president by the traditional council in Lagos at the weekend does not have the consent and approval of the Arewa community in the southwestern part of the country.
He said: “The Arewa Community wishes to dissociate itself from the endorsement of the candidacy of President Goodluck Jonathan for a second term in office. This became necessary as a result of the endorsement by the Arewa Council of Chiefs in Lagos and Ogun.
“The truth of the matter is that the said Arewa Council of Chiefs were cajoled and about six of them that went to endorse President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. The Deputy Chairman Arewa Council of Chiefs Alhaji Hassan Auyo who is the Seriki Hausawa of Idi-Araba, was not there and the council did not sit down to decide on endorsement of anybody.
“What we want to do is to sit next week Tuesday in an extended session to discuss this matter and decide who to endorse amongst the presidential candidates.
“Until then, we have to make a categorical statement disowning that endorsement of the president. Arewa has not emdorseed President Jonathan. I don’t want to pre-empt the outcome of the sitting but from preliminary discussions it does not look like Arewa Community will endorse President Jonathan. Not at all.
“We normally sit down and carry out our analysis based on performance, based on what we see, look at the track records of the candidates before endorsing them.”
Abdulahi further stated that “we have been working on a report and the report before us does not signify that President Jonathan will be endorsed. I can tell you we may end up endorsing Genaral Muhammadu Buhari because the reccomendations favour him and we will come out on Tuesday to do that endorsement for him.”
Also speaking, Alhaji Ahmed Dakata added that, “ in as much as everyone has right to associate with any political party we believe the Council of Arewa Chiefs as a traditional institution should not be seen to be directly involved in partisan politics.
“Rather, they are royal fathers whose subjects are those who are supposed to be full time politicians who can belong to any political party of their choice . Therefore, we want to state categorically that the traditional chiefs did not speak for us.”