Baba-Ahmed: Presidency has run out of ideas — it’s always looking for excuses

Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, spokesman for the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), says he is convinced the presidency has run out of ideas.

Baba-Ahmed said this in an interview with Channel Television on Friday.

Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, who was also interviewed, had said the opposition was exploiting the challenges experienced by the current administration.

He attributed the recent calls for secession to ”charlatans” sponsored to threaten and bully the president into making the wrong decisions.

Responding, Baba-Ahmed said the manner in which Shehu spoke has made him depressed and also think the presidency has run out of ideas.

The NEF spokesman added that Nigerians want an end to the kidnappings, not excuses.

“Hearing him speak in this manner, I’m more depressed than I was when I came into this studio. This how the spokesperson of the president will respond, just telling people arrests are being made? We don’t see anybody being arrested. If they are arrested, why are they not being prosecuted? Yes, he’s right, banditry and kidnapping has become an industry,” he said.

“This thing has grown into a big industry right under the nose of the president. There’s no way you can deflect attention from this. How do you explain the grown sophistication of the criminals in this country?

“You can only do that by acknowledging the failure of the government to secure its citizens. Listening to Garba, to be honest, I just think that the presidency has run out of ideas.

“When they’re confronted with a very serious challenge, they go around looking for all sorts of diversions and excuses. Nigerians don’t want to hear any of this. We want a stop to the kidnappings.”