Presidency Blast Northern Elders Forum: “Shut Up, We Know You As A Mere Irritant, A General Without Troops”

The Presidency has lampooned the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and its Convener, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, describing the group as bunch of mere irritant, paper-weight and organisation led by a ‘General’ without troops

This followed a recent statement by the group in which Prof. Abdullahi accused the President Muhammadu Buhari’s government and governor’s of the Northern states of their failure to contain the rising cases of insecurity in the North.

However, reacting, Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President
(Media and Publicity), described Ango Abdullahi, a retired Professor and a former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University as a “mere irritant and feather weight”, stressing that the “NEF is just Ango Abdullahi and Ango Abdullahi is NEF.”

He said: “We are not surprised by this latest statement by Prof. Abdullahi, and our past position on what his group represents remains unchanged: a mere irritant and featherweight.

“The former vice chancellor signed the statement under the banner of 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-organization 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 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”, Adesina added.

Recalled that the NEF, in a statement on Sunday had alleged that the rate of insecurity in some northern states of the country shows that Buhari and the governors of that part of the country have failed the people.

According to NEF, the situation 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.