President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday blasted the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) over remarks on the crisis of insecurity in the country.
Buhari in a statement on Sunday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, berated the northern elders for, in his view, turning their cultural role into political activities.
NEF had emphasized that the insecurity ravaging several Northern states in Nigeria shows the sign that President Muhammadu Buhari and governors of the northern states have lost control over protection of the people.
Buhari in the statement by Adesina noted that the statement by NEF is not strange, adding that the Presidency is aware that what the group represents remains unchanged.
The statement read in part: “A mere irritant and featherweight. The former vice-chancellor signed the statement under the banner of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF). Hearing that title, you would think the body was a conglomeration of true elders.”
“But the truth is that NEF is just Ango Abdullahi, and Ango Abdullahi is NEF. It is a quasi-organisation that boasts of no credible membership, and its leader is akin to a General without troops.
“Before the 2019 presidential election, the one-man army called NEF had shown its antipathy against President Buhari and its preference for another candidate. They all got beaten together.”
NEF Coordinator, Ango Abdullahi, had in a statement, maintained that the government of President Buhari has failed in its fight bandits and Boko Haram terrorists.
NEF was of the view the people of the North are now completely at the mercy of armed gangs who wreak havoc at will in towns and villages, noting the escalation of attacks by bandits, rustlers, and insurgents.
The President, however, protested that NEF was merely waving a flag at half-mast, urging that the remarks should be disregarded. It was claimed that President Buhari has steadily and steadfastly focused on the task of retooling Nigeria. This claim, however, only exists in the psyche of the president and his men and does not reflect the reality in the society across Nigeria.