The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has hit back at President Goodluck Jonathan, saying some sitting leaders are worse than pick pockets in motor parks.
NEF’s statement was a direct reply to President Jonathan’s assertion that some past leaders were behaving like motor park touts.
Addressing journalists in Zaria, Kaduna on Thursday, NEF’s spokesman, Prof. Ango Abdullahi noted that President Jonathan shouldn’t have made such abusive statement on nation’s statesmen who had fought for the unity of the country he now enjoys.
According to him, “Jonathan may disagree with ex-President 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.
“This is a man that has been saying things as he has seen them. It is only very recently, some wellmeaning Nigerians like him have come to agree that, the country is being put in the wrong direction under the leadership of the current administration.”
The former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) said “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.”
Abdullahi pointed out that “pickpockets in a motor park cheat the passengers as well as the owner of the vehicles, while the touts do some works for a commission.”
Abdullahi reminded Nigerians that “this is a country 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 pickpockets and some of them are even worse than pickpockets.”
He noted that his NEF used to be criticised for calling Jonathan to order as it was variously described as partisan, sectional and divisive.
“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,” he pointed out.
Abdullahi, who was Special Adviser on Agriculture during Obasanjo administration, also tongue-lashed the Tanko Yakasai led Northern Elders Council (NEC), saying the group lacks principle and they were not speaking for the generality of Northerners.
He said that his forum is more focused and committed to the political wellbeing of Northerners and Nigerians in general. “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,” he pointed out.
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