The deputy Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, Wantaregh Paul Unongo, has revealed reasons the North refused to vote former President, Goodluck Jonathan.
Unongo disclosed that the immediate past President didn’t garner much vote in the North because the region wanted a leader that will understand their pains and work towards resolving it.
Speaking the NEF deputy Chairman said, “From the onset, we made it clear that we are a political organization concerned with global politics, and we articulated our views on the politics that had gone on and the one that had to go on.
“We felt that if a Northerner was made the President of the Republic, he would know our pains, he would feel our pains and he would take actions and stop the murderous campaign that was decimating the population of the North.
“So, we said that in the next elections, we would lead Nigeria, particularly the North, not to consider any other party except a political party that chose a northerner as its presidential candidate.
“We resolved that we would all work to have that candidate elected and we did so. We carried our campaigns across the whole of Nigeria. We carried our campaign without fear or intimidation to the international community.
”We went to the United States and confronted the United States Administration and explained our position to them. And all these were done in the context of our firm belief that when the North is united, Nigeria becomes united.
“That when Nigeria has a crisis and the North is together, the Nigerian crisis can be better solved. And this Kano was the very place we came and issued out that document called “the Kano Declaration”
Speaking further, Unongo said, “We went to Borno State and we saw what the great, gallant governor of Borno State was trying to do amidst tremendous encumbrances. Borno , Yobe and Adamawa States, as you know, were virtually left for Boko Haram to do whatever they wanted to do during the administration that we refused to vote for (Jonathan administration).
” We saw Mr. President, (Jonathan), we told him that we were pained and we gave him our recommendation to do this and get relief and ‘if you don’t do, you will kill all our people.’ He didn’t. So we switched and voted for a person that would hear us.”
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