By Furera Bagel, Ph.D
For the first time since 1999 the coming elections have failed to arouse any excitement in me, hence I am not passionate about any of the presidential candidates like I had been for the last 3 elections, because in my view whoever wins this election, the north still loses.
The north will always come first for me not because I am a regionalist or due to any other sentiment but because this devastated. The most backward region has been failed by her children and is now like an old crooked house placed on a cliff that needs to be repositioned in case it falls off that cliff ‘and what we need is someone willing to do that.
In his fiery speech before the primaries, one of the presidential candidates hinted that before he supported the current president, he asked him ‘what are you going to do for the Yorubas?’ Well, we can see from important ministerial appointments to the transformation that took place in Lagos that at least the president has kept his part of the bargain that brought him to power, but who is doing the same for Arewa? It seems the region has become desolate like an orphaned child.
It is now that Arewa needs its heroes most; Outspoken courageous and determined people who have the region at heart to sit down and take a look at this poverty-stricken, bandit-infested, and educationally backward region of ours and then identify the most important areas that need intervention in the first 4 years of the next administration and then use that as our condition for giving our votes. But who are those heroes and where are they?
Sadly some of the so-called elders are too busy parading the corridors of power with the hope of gaining favours while others are flocking around different candidates with hopes of getting appointments for themselves or their children while the youths are busy insulting each other on social media or fighting each other with weapons on the streets in the name of promoting their preferred candidates to care about the future of Arewa.
They have failed to realize that unless we all wake up to take a stand and demand better governance in the form of security and lasting peace, employment for our indolent youths, and a solution to our persistent poverty, the positions they favoured gained may not benefit
The last 8 years should be enough confirmation that blind support and excessive love do not guarantee the best results. It is a testimony that voting for someone from the same region or religion does not guarantee getting special or favoured treatment but the opposite, for the north and its people have never felt more like second-class citizens since independence as they did during this administration. Their cries and wails have been disregarded while the mere hiss of others is swiftly listened to. Their grievances were muted and their plights were ignored.
