2023: Northern elders, Niger Delta’s clash; NEF says Clark, others short on attention

Perhaps PANDEF has not been listening to the north when it stated it shall not be threatened or intimidated by any group or region, said the publicity secretary of the Northern Elder Forum.

The Pan Niger Delta Forum could have been busy reiterating its position then.

And the southern elders, under the national leadership of Edwin Clark and others, hammered it home again in Port Harcourt on Thursday.

In a press statement PANDEF National Publicity Secretary Ken Robinson said it should be unthinkable that the north should contemplate clutching retaining Aso Rock after President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years.

The group insisted the north must wait till 2031.

“The truth of the matter is whatever PANDEF says, no matter what any group says, the fundamental right of every citizen to elect his candidate and the rights of all political parties to choose candidates must be respected,” NEF’s Ahmed told the Daily Trust.

“Between this legal provision and the exigencies of managing a plural and diverse nation, politicians should fill the vacuum by doing the serious work.”

He said the north is willing to sit down with anybody and discuss how these things can be done—not by threat.

“We have said this so many times, don’t threaten the north.  We will not be intimidated.”

Taking the position of the law, NEF said spitting fire and thunder like PANDEF did won’t wash.

And when you keep speaking in this kind of language, it just simply foul the atmosphere,” Ahmed said.

NEF believes as Buhari is incompetent, and has never hidden his disgust about what it describes as the administration’s tribal lopsidedness creating instability across the nation..

He advised PANDEF and other organisations to insist on a competent Nigerian who will integrate everybody.