The Coalition of Northern Groups has said the region is worse off today than it was in 2015, adding that the people of the region made a mistake in 2015.
The coalition averred that the people it trusted with power had isolated the region politically, economically and socially.
The spokesperson for the group, Abdul-Azeez Sulieman said this at the sensitisation and awareness conference organised by CNG on Wednesday in Kaduna.
He bemoaned how the once potent and progressive region is begging for a place in the nation’s future political arrangement.
Sulieman said, “The North has been abandoned to a critical security situation with its widowed women, children orphaned, youths maimed and killed and people displaced in thousands. Politicians and leaders we have elected have prospered, but the bulk of us are left jobless, homeless, helpless and hopeless.
“The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. And while these elites celebrate with their families in world capitals, there has been nothing to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.
“Indeed, the north made a mistake in 2015 so that the deliberate commission or omission of the people we trusted with power has inadvertently isolated the region politically, economically and socially as a result of which, the once portent and progressive region is today begging not only for food but for a place in the nation’s future political arrangement.”
He assured that the 2023 election will be special because the only thing that will truly matter to citizens is not which party or which candidate controls the government in future, but whether the government is controlled by the people.
He added, “If the price of voting along religious, ethnic and sectional sentiments is to become the most wretched, the most distressed, derided and most deprived, the north must therefore sincerely begin to ask itself if that price is worth paying,” he stressed.
The National Coordinator of the group, Comrade Jamilu Aliyu Charanchi lamented that instead of addressing the challenges as they emerge, successive leaderships found it expedient to use them for either political gains, or to serve their selfish interest of polarizing the region along ethnoreligious, and socio-cultural divides.
He urged the electorate to map out their needs and refuse to be deceived by just any politician coming with the usual campaign promises that would never be fulfilled saying, “The northern voter must look out for credible candidates with proven pedigrees, honesty, sense of nationalism and sound understanding of the current challenges facing the region.”
The General Overseer of the Christ Evangelical and Life Fellowship Ministry, Pastor Yohanna Buru urged citizens to shun politics of sentiment in order to bring about peace and unity in diversity.
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