President Goodluck Jonathan may have struck a new deal with Arewa leaders after another round of meetings and consultations with leaders from the core North in Katsina, insiders privy to the development have confided in Sunday Tribune.
Series of meetings were reportedly held from Thursday night and at the early hours of Friday, as the president was said to have held nocturnal discourses with key Arewa leaders who came from various parts of the core North for the purpose of the meeting.
Findings showed that apart from key federal ministers with major projects in the North, point men of the president from across the northern states were in attendance. Their roll call included former Governors Abdulkadir Kure of Niger State; Shinkafi of Zamfara State; Attahiru Bafarawa of Sokoto State; Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano State and Saminu Turaki of Jigawa State.
Others were former Minister of State for Finance from Yobe, Dr Yerima Ngama; Minister of State for Power, Wakil Mohammed from Borno State, among others.
The president was reported to have adopted two approaches to address the various leaders he met on Thursday and Friday. According to reliable sources at the meetings, the president showcased the many federal projects embarked upon by his government across the northern states. He was said to have reeled out records to show that his government favoured the north in water, health, education, roads, power and agriculture sectors.
President Jonathan was said to have told one of the meetings that he has done more for the North than he has done for the South-South, calling ministers to testify on key projects being handled in the region.
The second line of presentation, according to the source, was the president’s request for other areas of intervention, which the Arewa leaders would want him to focus on in order to address the developmental challenges facing the region.
In one of the meetings, requests were made for a super highway linking Katsina to Zindar in Niger Republic; a new railway line between Katsina and Kano as well as a speedy address of the Boko Haram insurgency.
Sunday Tribune was told that the president not only promised action in those areas but also indicated that his appointment of General Aliyu Gusau was a demonstration of his seriousness to tackle insecurity challenges facing the nation.