Presidency has again berated the Northern Elders Forum NEF, over claims that the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration is incapable of addressing the security needs of states in the North.
The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) in a statement Sunday signed by its leader, Ango Abdullahi, had expressed concern over the endless killings in the region, especially in the wake of recent increase in kidnaping and other violent crimes.
In the statement, the NEF had opined that the insecurity in some northern states of the country was an indication that President Muhammadu Buhari and the governors of those states have lost control over the protection of the people which is a constitutional duty.
But Presidency in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said it was not surprised by this latest statement by Abdullahi, adding that its “past position on what his group represents remains unchanged: a mere irritant and featherweight.”
Abdullahi, a former vice chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, signed the statement under the banner of Northern Elders Forum (NEF).
The Presidency however berated the pan northern group, saying that “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-organization that boasts of no credible membership, and its leader is akin to a General without troops.
Presidency recalled that “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 is merely waving a flag that is at half-mast. President Buhari steadily and steadfastly focuses on the task of retooling Nigeria, and discerning Nigerians know the true state of the nation.
“They don’t need a paper tiger to tell them anything.
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