Yerima Usman Shettima is the president of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), a rights and pro-democracy activist.
In this interview with RAZAQ BAMIDELE, Shettima insisted that the stand on the North retaining power in 2023 remains, describing those people who have made a U-Turn on the issue, as political opportunists.
He gave his reasons for his consistent position on the North, leading the nation beyond 2023.
What is the latest development about your insistence that power should still remain in the North in 2023?
There is no latest development on my position on that issue. I still remain solid and firm on my belief that power should remain in the North for the sake of justice, equity and fairness to all.
And come to think of it, rotational presidency is unconstitutional but rather a gentleman arrangement mutually put together for the sake of equity to all. But the arrangement has been scuttled by the former President Goodluck Jonathan. And by so doing, the North has been short-changed in the process. And with that, there is no rotational presidency any more in Nigeria.
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How do you mean in clear terms?
Well, you remember Chief Olusegun Obasanjo from the South spent uninterrupted eight years in office as President. And when it was the turn of the North, you are a living witness to what happened. President Umaru Yar’Adua fell sick and Jonathan acted for some time before the President later passed on. So, the last two years of the North was completed by Jonathan from the South.
Principle of fairness demanded that, by 2011, Nigerians should have prevailed on Jonathan or any southern candidate not to contest so that the North could complete their terms. But Jonathan contested and won to make him a president that spent six years in office. Interestingly, in 2015, that same Jonathan also contested aiming so spend another four years.
As it stands now, by 2023, the North would have spent just 10 years whereas the South had already spent roughly 15 years. If you say the South should come again in 2023, the question now would be, where is justice? Where is fairness and where is equity?
What is going on right now is an attempt at blackmailing the North to hands-off 2023 but I can tell you with all the emphasis at my disposal that neither blackmail, intimidation nor propaganda can deter us. We had experienced such intimidation over and over and we were not bothered. And the current one too, we shall overcome it.
But how…?
(Cuts in) the only advice I can give to all the political parties, whether the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or any other parties is to make sure that all their presidential candidates are from the North or else they would fail.
If APC and PDP make the mistake of fielding none-northerners as their presidential candidates, they would fail because we have the capacity to mobilise for any other parties that field candidates from the North. And I can assure you of a resounding victory.
But why this rigid position whereas some protagonists of northern presidency like Mallam el-Rufai of Kaduna and his predecessor, Yero have made a U-Turn on the issue?
It is not a surprise that they have made a U-Turn. You know I am not a conventional politician. Those chickening out must be doing so for their selfish interest. They must be nursing ambitions to become deputy to a southern candidate or any other political offices they want to occupy in the event of the southern presidency.
But recall that el-Rufai had once clamoured for competence, capability and ability to do it wherever the candidate is coming from. It is on that I still stand. Let anybody who is sure of himself across the country come out and contest. Or does anybody think that the North cannot boast of anybody that possesses those qualities? Some people are talking to gain cheap popularity and sympathy that would put them at vantage position for political patronage.
And besides, the power has not shifted to the south, but you can see how hostile some of the policies from that zone are to the northern people! Take, for instance, the ban on Okada operations and other policies. They are deliberately targeted against our people. Then, come to think of it, if they can do that before getting the power, what do you think they would do when the power is in their hands. It is not a gainsaying that our people are no longer safe in the South.
Mark my words, we believe in the unity of the country. We believe that an injury to one is an injury to all. The security challenges in some parts of the country like insurgency, kidnapping, banditry and the likes can happen to any zone of the country. And asking for northern presidency in 2023 through democratic and not through an unconstitutional means does not suggest that we don’t love Nigeria. We do.
But some are still insisting that 2023 should be the South’s turn to produce the next president for Nigeria. Are you not aware of such a clamour?
They are saying ‘turn of the South’ and I wonder when representative democracy has become turn-by-turn. Look, for 216 years it was Northern America that produced Presidents for the United States and only Lyndon B. Johnson broke the jinx, even then by default, because he became president only when President John Kennedy was assassinated. Democracy shouldn’t be reduced to a turn-by-turn culture, let the majority have their way and let the minority have their say. It is as simple as that. Whoever has all that it takes to win the Presidency in 2023 should be the right man for the job and it does not matter if he or she is from the North.
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Clamour for restructuring appears to be on the front burner in the country now to the extent that powerful stakeholders like former President Olusegun Obasanjo have raised their voice in its favour. What is your take on that?
My colleagues in the civil society organisations have always been advocates of restructure and self-determination in the country, even when Chief Obasanjo was busy nursing a third term agenda. He was also busy initiating some doubtful national confab here and there. Baba had all the chances under the sun to restructure this country but he frittered away the chance. Wonders shall never end!
I was a strong voice in the Pro National Conference (PRONACO) that tried to fashion a way out of the quagmire that the country was experiencing. Some of our colleagues were arrested and hauled into detention in the process under the watch of Obasanjo. Our offence was simply because we were calling for the restructuring of the polity to make the country better through self-determination polity. We were working towards weakening the centre with a view to making all other component units determine their own destiny and fate.
If Nigeria did not crash under Obasanjo, by the grace of God, the country would not crash any more. It will survive its current travails and come out stronger, more united and more prosperous. I still believe in one united and indivisible Nigeria.