The attention of the Southern Nigeria Frontier SNF, has been drawn to the resolutions of the Northern Governors Forum NGF, after its meeting held in Kaduna on Monday. The meeting which was chaired by the Chairman of the Forum, Governor Simon Lalong also had in attendance, key traditional rulers from the Northern part of the country.
Reading the resolutions of the meeting, we are appalled by the level of insensitivity displayed by the Northern Governors, including the failure to acknowledge the carnages, currently ravaging most parts of the states,. including Sunday killing of over 30 people in Kaduna State and others governed by these governors, including the recent massacres witnessed in Plateau State, governed by the Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Mr Simon Lalong.
The decision of the governors, to focus their meeting on the ‘priority’ issues of 2023 Power Rotation and the lingering controversy over the collection of Value Added Tax VAT, clearly shows, that the Northern Governors only think about themselves and their personal ambitions, while ignoring the interests of their citizens.
It is childlike for the Northern Governors, to dismiss the call by the Southern Governors and other stakeholders from the Southern Nigeria, including the SNF, that power be rotated to the South, after eight years tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023. When majority of the members of the Northern Governors Forum in 2015, were insisting that power must return to the North, was it not a constitutional matter then?
May we remind the Northern Governors Forum that the era of the North, lording itself over the rest of the country, is over.
Furthermore, the position of the Governors, supporting the continued collection of the VAT, by the Federal Inland Revenue Service FIRS, against the resolution of the Southern Governors Forum, demonstrates the non-readiness of the Northern Governors, to jettison the feeding bottle Federalism, which has made their states impotent and economically unviable, due to over reliance on monthly allocations from the federal government and their lack of productivities.
We believe that the reason why the Northern Governors cannot see the valid need for rotational Presidency as being demanded by the Southern Governors and Stakeholders from the South, is that Nigeria to them is just about the North and the votes spread the constitution requires from other parts of the country.
If the northern governors fail to listen to the very need to uphold power rotation, for reasons of morality, fairness, equity and justice, it would mean that there is a plot to destabilize this country and such may be enjoying the official endorsement of the northern governors.
Finally, we wish to restate that power rotation to the South come 2023 is not negotiable, as we appeal to all Nigerians of good conscience, not to be carried away by the self serving resolution of the northern governors forum on the issue.
Nigeria belongs to us all.
Signed:
Comrade Morgan Omodu,
Co-ordinator,
Southern Nigeria Frontier SNF
