The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) said northerners would not vote on religious and ethnic grounds in the 2023 presidential election.

Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, the spokesperson for the NEF, revealed this during a speech on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics program.

While revealing that the North already has an idea of ​​who should be the next president, he said that people in the region will not consider the religion or ethnicity of the candidate to vote for 2023 but his ability to solve the problems. problems in the region.

Baba-Ahmed said the NEF would support a southerner if he was convinced he would solve the problems of northerners.

He said: “We have ideas about what the next president should look like, which is important for the next administration.

“First of all, we have to secure the country. Second, we need to ask fundamental questions about why the economy is failing and what they plan to do. Then we want to ask ourselves what their plans are or what they think of all these restructuring requests.

“We want to ask what their plans are for education, especially for out-of-school children in the north of the country.

“What he intends to do to convince us that he has the mental ability, the physical ability, the intellect, the willingness to tap into the best and brightest brains available, the sensitivity to a number key issues that are central to our survival as a country.

“These things are going to be the basis for us on which we will support a candidate.”

While reacting to the insinuation that the North would not support a candidate from the South, he said: “at this stage our options are open, we will not vote on narrow prisms like ‘where he is from’.

“We did not say that we would only support a candidate from the North. What we have said is that we will defend the rights of northerners to compete freely and fairly with others.

“We will support a northerner if we think he is the best. We will support a southerner if we believe he is the best to do justice to northern interests as well as other parts of the country. What is important to note here is that we are looking for the best.

The NEF secretary said the North would not repeat the past mistake in choosing the next Nigerian president.

“Three days ago I attended a very important meeting in Kaduna involving five very important groups. The idea is to design a model that includes the issue of our security, our economy, our education and the co-existence of Nigerians, and then very seriously question our presidential candidates in terms of thinking and what they plan to do.

“This time, I don’t know what other parts of the country are doing, but the North is not just going to vote for any candidate unless we are satisfied that they have given serious thought to what it takes. make this country,” he said.