Insecurity: Your Criticism Of Buhari Driven By Hatred, Presidency Tells Northern Elders

The presidency on Sunday said the critism of President Muhammadu Buhari by the Northern Elders Forum led by Ango Abdullahi is fuelled by resent towards the president.

Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, said this in reaction to the castigation of the president by the forum.

The group had described Buhari as a failure over his inability to secure the lives and properties of people in the country, especially in the north.

Abdullahi said the people were now at the mercy of bandits and insurgents.

But reacting via a statement, Adesina said the presidency continues to see the forum as ‘mere irritant’.

Adesina described the group as a quasi organisation with no credible membership.

He said the group was a “one-man army” which was driven by political interests and its contempt for the president.

YOU MAY LIKE: ‘We’re Tired Of Excuses’ — Northern Elders Lambast Buhari Over Killings

“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,” he said.

“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.”

The presidential spokesman added that the “one-man army called NEF” had shown its “antipathy” against Buhari before the 2019 presidential election, but was “beaten together” with its preferred candidate.

“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,” he said.