It’s un-elderly to demonize Tinubu’s 1-year administration – Northern Group tells NEF
By: Austine Emmanuel, Kaduna
http://www.newsportng.com.ng Coalition of Concerned Northern Groups, (CCNG) has said that it will be un-elderly of an Elders Forum to demonize president Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration that is barely one year.
The Coalition was responding to the comments by the Northern Elders Forum, (NEF) regretting that they had voted in favour of Tinubu in the 2023 general elections and threatening that they will not vote for his second term in 2027.
Recalled that the immediate past chairman of the Kaduna state chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN) Rev. Dr. John Joseph Hayab on Friday also slammed the Northern Elders on the ground of misplaced priority.
Hayab said that only God knows those who will be alive to contest election or vote for any candidate of their choice in 2027, and as such the NEF should focus on collaborating with the government to make life more easier for the citizenry.
In a statement made available to Journalists in Kaduna on Saturday, the president of CCNG Muhammed Ibrahim lamented that NEF was silent when the administration of former president Muhammadu Buhari committed an extrajudicial killings against hundreds of innocent Shi’ites members in Kaduna in 2015.
They also asserted that banditry and other criminal elements became more prominent in Northern Nigeria during the 8-years of president Buhari’s led government, stressing that the NEF is not fair to Tinubu who is currently enjoying the goodwill of Nigerians because of his commitment to national development and progress
“The Coalition of Concerned Northern Groups (CCNG) finds it pertinent to respond to the recent ill-fated statement made public by the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) wrongly depicting the president Bola Ahmad Tinubu.
“It baffles us that the NEF was silent when the former President Muhammadu Buhari regime killed hundreds of innocent men, women and children when it clampdown on Shi’ites Members in Kaduna in 2015. Were they not northerners that were murdered in an extrajudicial manner?
“Was it not during the Buhari regime that the banditry became more prominent in the Northwest, a situation that has virtually killed the farming profession in the region and destroyed lives and property. Yet the NEF never rose against that.
“We are hardly two years into this regime which started on a very difficult footing with many things to be put aright after being detracted by the immediate past regime. Hence, it will be un-elderly of an elders’ forum to demonize this regime instead of giving it the benefit of doubt.
“Reviewing the NEF claims that they mobilized the north in favour of President Tinubu, even as his major contender, Atiku Abubakar was a northerner, cannot be substantiated because they have no such influence over the electorate in the region.
“In comparison with the Buhari regime, the NEF is not fair to President Tinubu who is currently enjoying the goodwill of Nigerians because of his commitment to national development and progress.
“We wish to state categorically that the CCNG, a coalition of concerned Northern Groups, is passing a vote of confidence on President Bola Ahmad Tinubu while calling on the NEF to reconsider it’s stance in the interest of the north and the northerners.
