By Ezeocha Nzeh
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has commenced its dialogue and evaluation of the Southern presidential candidates, with a visit to the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo
PANDEF, which held a closed door meeting with the SDP candidate at his Lilian Court Campain office, along the Katampe extension district of the Federal Ca[pital Territory (FCT), Abuja warned that trouble could arise for Nigeria, if power is retained in the north in 2023.
The National Publicity Secretary of PANDEF, Ken Robinson, who led the other members of the forum to the meeting, stated that PANDEF would mobilize every well-intentioned Nigerian to protest the unfair treatment in the Nigerian state if the 2023 presidential election panders towards another Northern presidency
He noted that the meeting was part of the resolve of the joint decision o PANDE, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Afenifere and the Middle Belt Forum to dialogue with all the presidential candidates from the South, adding that the union will finally advise southerners on the way to go after meeting and evaluating all the candidates
According to him: “The statement is not a threat and we are serious. We will mobilise our people in the creeks, in the farmlands, in the streets across Nigeria, and people who think that Nigerians should work together.
“I had said on a programme on national TV that if the two major political parties produce northern candidates, it will be a declaration of war against southern Nigeria. We are in a situation where an administration has operated in a system as if others don’t exist.
“We are saying it’s unfair, not proper, and it’s on record. We are taking our campaigns to the South south, we have friends in the middle belt and in northern Nigeria, we are taking it to Nigerians of goodwill and clear conscience in northern Nigeria, so that they will know that we need to work together for this country to exist, prosper, and become greater than what we are. We will speak to all Nigerians why the next president should come from southern Nigeria; anything otherwise, we are not saying this as a threat, Nigeria will no longer be what it has been if 2023 goes north”, he stressed.
While highlighting the injustices further, the PANDEF chieftain said, “There are 17 major paramilitary intelligence agencies in the country. At the last count 14 of them are headed by persons from certain part of the country, three from southern Nigeria.
“The NNPC limited as it is called has 11 key management and board members, the South south has no person, and 80 percent of our resources come from the region, the south east has two, the south west one.
“And in that kind of discriminating administration of eight years; then somebody in that kind of scenario wants to retain power again in the north”, he added.
Speaking on the Muslim Muslim ticket, he said, “You can’t close the door against your own, PANDEF will engage all of them including Tinubu because we’re leaders and fathers.”
In his remarks, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Presidential Candidate, Prince Adewale Adebayo said, he plans to promote an indivisible Nigeria, as well as a Nigeria that believes in power rotation.
According to him, “This conversation will continue with the South south and the Middle Belt. My major aim is to promote an indivisible Nigeria. The Niger Delta has been the source of stupendous wealth that has been used to sustain Nigeria.
“I see the Niger Delta as a valuable component of Nigeria. I just don’t see it as an area that produces oil but as humans who happens to be on oil.
“If the injustice in Nigeria is addressed nobody will talk of your geographical location. I share their belief in power rotation but from a just man to a just man and not an unjust man from the north to an unjust man from the south”, he stated.
