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| When All Was Rosy: Alhaji Maitama Sule (C) led the NEF to Visit President Jonathan (L) and VP Sambo (2nd L) |
What manner of leaders;
what manner of elders? Can you believe the language Nigerian leaders &
elders are using on each other? Actually Professor Okey Ndibe described this
phenomenon in his current essay. See the next post.
The Nation reports Maitama Sule-led
Northern Elders Forum (NEF) replied President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday,
debunking his description of some elder-statesmen as touts.
NEF’s Spokesman, Prof.
Ango Abdullahi, who addressed reporters at his Zaria-based farm, said some
sitting leaders were worse than pick-pockets in a motor park.
He added that the
president should not have made such abusive statement on statesmen, who fought
for the country’s unity.
Prof. Abdullahi, who is
also a member of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), also flayed the Tanko
Yakasai-led Northern Elders Council (NEC), saying the group lacked principle.
According to the NEF’s
spokesman, the Yakasai-led NEC was not speaking for the generality of
Nigerians.
The former Ahmadu Bello
University (ABU) vice chancellor and special adviser on Agriculture during
President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration said NEF was more focused and
committed to the political well-being of northerners and Nigerians.
His words: “President
Jonathan should know that in a motor park, there are touts and there are
pick-pockets. So, if some past leaders are touts, some sitting leaders are
pick-pockets and thieves. So, you have to make your pick from that.
“This is acountry is
complaining about corruption and the President himself has said that stealing
is a small corruption.
“And so, for him to even
come around and refer to some people as touts, he should remember that, some of
them sitting there are pick-pockets and some of them are even worse than
pick-pockets.
“Pick-pockets in a motor
park cheat the passengers as well as the owner of the vehicles, while the touts
do some work for a commission. So, you see, these are some of the things that
are clearly pointing to the fact that the incompetence that we have been
complaining about is the additional basis of rejecting the man’s leadership in
2015. It is now clearly showing across the country.
“It used to be Northern
Elders Forum, which is seen as partisan, sectional, and divisive and so on.
Whenever we say something, it was misconstrued as outright opposition against
the government or against the president, because we are not and we are not
president at the moment. But thank God, the truth will always be one. People
across the country today seem to have agreed that this is an incompetent
government that is about to wreck or completely ruin this country, and sooner
Nigerians come to grips with this, the better.
“Jonathan may disagree
with Obasanjo, he is one of our leaders that come out to say things the way
they are. You can criticise him on what he has done or what he has not been
able to do, but he should also be seen as he has always been since 1979, since
I knew him.
“This is a man that has
been saying things as he has seen them. It is only very recently, some
well-meaning Nigerians like him have come to agree that the country is been put
in the wrong direction under the leadership of the present administration…
“We have said this
before, what is Northern Elders Council? Who are they? Who do they speak for?
But, we speak for Nigerians? But more so for Northern Nigerians. We did not
hide the fact that, we protect the interest of Northern Nigerians at any stage,
without sacrificing the rights of other Nigerians elsewhere under any guise.”
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