Alhaji Tanko Yakasai is the Chairman of the Northern Elders Council and a politician who has hung up his gloves, as he claims. What he doesn’t say is that he is a dyed-in-the-wool conspiracy theorist.
Yakasai has said in a chat with The Punch that the North of Nigeria conspired to vote out Goodluck Jonathan because he wasn’t seen as one of them. He also says that his Northern Elders Council (NEC) has long been at loggerheads with the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) because the NEF just wants to polarize Nigeria.
“The Northern Elders Council is an organisation made up of northerners who believe in a new Nigeria. We were opposed to the stand of the Northern Elders Forum because they were fighting for only the North; they were not fighting for Nigeria. We felt that the way they were dealing with the issue of Jonathan was so sectional that if they were left unchecked, they would harm the unity of this great nation. We do not oppose somebody because we hate him. The fact that they are opposing somebody just because he comes from a particular area or a particular religion is what we do not like”, Yakasai said.
Yakasai said Jonathan lost because he isn’t a Muslim and added that Northern elders and religious leaders in the region incited the people against voting for the incumbent.
“Jonathan was not contesting as a southerner; he was contesting as a Nigerian. They (NEF) were opposed to him because they were northerners and they did not want him to contest. They did not say why they did not want him to contest except that they were northerners and they would not vote for him. In their interviews, they stated clearly that the North would not vote for Jonathan and clearly the North did not vote for Jonathan. It was clear that it was a premeditated action, it was not natural. It was a collaboration between various actors, including some officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, some traditional rulers, some religious leaders and some politicians that incited the people.
“While openly the election was not fought based on religion, the voting was guided by and was largely on the basis on religion. People were asked not to vote for people who were non-Muslims. If you go to a mosque and you have an imam asking his congregation not to vote for somebody except somebody of the same religion, then he (the imam) is asking people to vote based on religious sentiment, which should not be the basis of elections. The basis for an election should be on the programmes of the party of the individual contesting; what they promise to do for the people in the country, not about religion. In a country that has roughly 50 per cent Muslims and 50 per cent Christians, it will not augur well for people to vote for a candidate based on his religion. It is not in the interest of the country”.
You can read his full interview here.
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