The new organisation, according to a source, will meet for the first time in Kaduna tomorrow and Tuesday to discuss modalities of how to perfect plans on achieving their aim of ensuring the return of President Jonathan come 2015.
Sunday Tribune learnt that the 84-year-old Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, who is a former aide of former President Sheu Shagari, has been appointed as the chairman of the new organisation.
It was gathered that the decision to form the new group was as a result of the stiff resistance from some powerful Northern elements on the choice of Alhaji Yakassai as the new chairman of the ACF being promoted by the pro-Jonathan group in the forum.
A prominent member of the ACF, led by a one-time Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Professor Ango Abudullahi, told Sunday Tribune in confidence in Abuja that President Jonathan’s loyalists were worried about their lack of influence within the ACF and had been working very hard to end the situation.
According to the source, “They saw a chance to take over the leadership of the ACF in the forthcoming election slated for February 17th and 18th in Kaduna and they have positioned the 84-year-old Alhaji Tanko Yakasai to take over through a well-oiled campaign.”
It was, however, learnt that the situation became worsened when Yakasai turned out to be a total reject in the North-West zone, his own zone, which was earlier mandated to produce the chairman of the ACF as well as the deputy chairman of ACF’s Board of Trustees, but resolved to support a former Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie, and Air Vice Marshal Mukhtar Mohammed (retd), for those two positions respectively.
According to the source, the North-Central to which was assigned the post of secretary-general was believed to have settled for Colonel John Ubah (retd) while the North-East was believed to have succeeded in prevailing on Alhaji Adamu Fika, a former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, to accept to serve as the chairman of the Board of Trustees.
It was further gathered that having had their hopes of taking over the ACF dashed, the president’s loyalists, who reportedly feared that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar was behind the plan to stop the installation of Alhaji Yakassai as the new chairman of the forum, engineered the pulling out of Yakasai and gave him the assignment of setting up the Northern Elders Council.
Sunday Tribune also gathered that Yakasai’s support was drawn mainly from politicians who were in total support of the former President Obasanjo’s failed third term bid.
“We are aware of the plans to infiltrate the ACF for their political and selfish interests by installing the 84-year-old Yakassai as the chairman of the forum. Now that the plot has been botched; they went ahead to float another group called, Arewa Elders Council. It is laughable; we will not allow them to destroy ACF, because the forum is not an appendix of any political party in the country,” the source insisted.
Source: Tribune
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