The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has encouraged governors of the North and South to embark on negotiations in a bid to resolve their differences on power shift in 2023.
In response to Southern governors’ position that power should shift to the South after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure, governors from the North and monarchs, on Monday described the call as confrontational and unconstitutional.
The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) said rather than hold on to rigid positions, the two sections of the country should negotiate the power shift.
Spokesman of NEF Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed in a statement on Tuesday said: “We hope everyone will now sit back and do the real work of politics, by discussing what can be done, what should be done and how those things can be done.
“What is left now is for the Northern governors to engage their Southern colleagues in productive discussions on the way forward. Southern governors are saying you must bring the presidency to the South, Northern governors say read the constitution again, there is a way this is done.
“They need to find a way to bridge the gap that exists between them. Their rehtorics are splitting the the country; they are causing more mischief and this country has enough problems. We don’t need very senior politicians fighting over something that should not tear the country. Where the president comes from is not as important as the survival of Nigeria.”
