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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Jonathan, while receiving a delegation of Northern Elders Council (NEC) that visited him in Abuja, said most politicians parading themselves as senior citizens or statesmen were not different from bus station touts.

He said that “Some people call themselves statesmen but they are not statesmen, they are just ordinary politicians.

“For you to be a statesman is not because you have occupied a big office before, but the question is what are you bringing to bear? Are you building this country? Or are you a part of people who tell lies to destroy this country; to create enmity and make people who ordinarily would have been living together to fight themselves? Are you planning to set the country ablaze because you did not get that particular thing you want?”

Jonathan’s reaction came two days after Obasanjo accused the present administration of squandering huge savings from Excess Crude Account and foreign reserves. According to the president, “At the appropriate time, Nigerians will know all of us. Even though I know most of you know us, the younger ones do not know.

“Some people are hiding under some cloaks; some big names and creating a lot of problems in this country; making provocative statements in this country, statements that will set this country ablaze and you tell me you are a senior citizen. You are not a senior citizen; you can never be. You are an ordinary motor park tout.

“Because if you are a senior citizen, you will act like one. It is not because of the offices we occupy is by divine grace and providence that some of us occupy these offices. But what role are you playing to build this country?”

The president expressed sadness that younger Nigerians are seeing the country from the religious divide. “I was told that even the driver of Tafawa Balewa was a Christian.

“Our people lived together in those days, why not now that we have even modern ways of life? Our children leave us and go abroad they stay together and do a lot of things together.

“But when we come back home, we begin to build walls; this is a Southerner, this is a Northerner, this is a Muslim, this is a Christian, this is a Yoruba man, this is an Hausa man, this is an Ijaw man, this is a Nupe man. Is that the way we are going to develop our country?

“America is great today because America is made up of various cultural groups. Everybody makes America because ethnic lines have been so weakened that people think about America. And that is why America is great today.

“If today I’m sick, if the best doctor that can treat me is from Zamfara or Enugu or Ekiti, they will bring that doctor to treat me. They will not ask if that doctor is an Ijaw man, Ogbia or any other tribe.

“And until we get to that level where we begin to use people based on their competencies; until we get to that level where we don’t discriminate based on primordial privileges, that of course, will be the beginning of our development.

“I will continue to plead with you because from all of your activities you have been advocating for that,” Jonathan said.

The President also described as false the insinuations that he was against the North, saying that his government has ensured development and progress in the North.

According to him, Vice- President Namadi Sambo is from the North as well as some of the people who work with him, including his principal secretary and his chief detail.

Earlier, Chairman of the Northern Elders Council, Tanko Yakasai, had said the country was passing through political transformation. He explained that all Nigerians should appreciate that the country was crafted in a manner that no one section of the country can rule without the support of the other.

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Speaking when a delegation of the Northern Elders Council (NEC) visited him at the Presidential lodge, Jonathan wondered what informed such suggestion.

He also flayed the attitude of some people, who paraded themselves as statesmen but “make provocative statements just to create enmity and division in the country.”

Citing projects executed by his administration in the north and appointment of many northerners into key positions in his government, Jonathan said he would provide documents to prove his critics wrong.

“Some people say Jonathan hates the north; I have heard that statement and I tell Namadi Sambo; `they say I hate the north but you are here as my Vice-President’.

“I tell the National Security Adviser and my Principal Secretary the same thing. In fact my Principal Secretary (Hassan Tukur) has been my friend since I was the deputy governor of Bayelsa

“I never knew I was going to come here as Vice-President not to talk of President. But I have known him since I was the deputy governor of Bayelsa.

“My Chief Detail, Yusuf, is from Borno and has been with me since I was a deputy governor in Yenagoa. I see him as a good person and I have carried him along with me. So I had to ask how can somebody wake up and say I hate the north?” he said.

The president stated that out of the 12 new federal universities established by his administration, nine were in the north while only three were in the south.

Jonathan said his government also initiated Almajiri education in the north to bring the region at par with the south in terms of education development.

He expressed happiness that state governments in the north had keyed into the imitative, which he said had greatly expanded access to education in the region.

“I feel we must enter the north with aggression through education. Whenever the statistics of school dropouts in the country is released, I’m not happy. The percentage from states in the north is sometimes as high as 50 (per cent) and even more.

“The last one was up to 70 per cent. I said no, we must change this statistics. Somebody who hates the people cannot talk about educating their children because the people we are educating are the future leaders of this country,” he said.

The president expressed concern over provocative statements by some elderly Nigerians, “who parade themselves as statesmen.

“Some people call themselves statesmen but they are not statesmen; they are just ordinary politicians.

“Being a statesman is not because you have occupied a big office before but the question is what are you bringing to bear?

“Are you building this country or are you a part of people who tell lies to destroy this country and to create enmity between people who ordinarily would have been living together?

“At the appropriate time Nigerians will know all of us even though I know most of you know us but the younger ones do not know.

“Some people are hiding under some clogs, some big names and creating a lot of problems in this country,” he said.

Jonathan commended NEC for its commitment to peace, unity and progress of the country, saying government would continue to protect Nigerians and make the country safe.

Earlier, the Chairman of NEC, Tanko Yakasai, said the purpose of the visit was to formally present members of the body to the president.

Yakasai used the opportunity to call for a peaceful coexistence among all Nigerians irrespective of religion, ethnic groups and location.

“The Northern Elders Council believes in peaceful co-existence and extension of hands of fellowship to brothers and sisters from the other parts of the nation.

“It is unpatriotic for anybody to instigate people against any person or people because of a temporary gain.

“Politics of insult, blackmail and castigation of individuals shall not take this country anywhere. We, therefore, believe in peaceful co-existence among Nigerians and by working together shall we move the country forward,” he said.

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