FThe Northern Elders’ Forum, NEF, has vowed never to allow President Goodluck Jonathan polarise its leaders ahead of the February general elections.
The Forum, which had thrown its weight behind the candidacy of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), of the APC said it would not allow the Tanko-Yakassai-led Northern Elders’ Council, which is backing Jonathan for the second term to succeed.
Both the Deputy Chairman of the NEF, Dr. Paul Unongo, and the forum’s spokesperson, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, in separate interviews, condemned the activities of the council, which, according them, were against the general wish of northerners.
Abdullahi, an ex-Vice Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, stated that the NEC was not following the interest the North.
His words, “I challenge Tanko Yakassai to walk around the streets of Kano. I will take a street and he should take another one in Kano, and let us see what will happen.
“These are petro-dollar elders. Some of these elders that visit the President are the ones who don’t know how a soup smells but they know how a dollar smells. They only smell dollars wherever they are but we are not interested in dollars; we are interested in the welfare of our people,” he said.
Speaking on Jonathan’s recent comment that some elder statesmen were behaving like motor park touts, Abdullahi said, “My reply to him (Jonathan), as I once said, is that: If you go to a motor park, there are vehicle owners that are touts and there are pick-pockets; they belong to the pick-pocket group.
“If he is referring to my friend – Obasanjo, I will tell him that there may be touts in the motor park but, there are also pick-pockets. He should understand what I mean by that.
“Obasanjo said there is corruption; is there no corruption? He said there is insecurity; is there no insecurity? There is nothing to argue. He (Obasanjo) may have his faults. The fact that he might have made some mistakes does not mean that he should not point out the mistakes of others who are currently on seat.”
Similarly, Unongo said Jonathan had tried his best but not to the extent of becoming Nigeria’s president again.
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