North will vote for Buhari in 2019, says Ebute, ex-senate president

Ameh Ebute, a former senate president, says the northern part of the country will vote massively for President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.

Ebute said this in response to the has replied the claim of Ango Abdullahi, convener of Northern Elders’ Forum, (NEF), that the region will not vote the president in 2019.

Abdullahi, a former vice-chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, had said this during an occasion  to mark his 80th birthday.

He also advocated a return to parliamentary system of government, saying it is more accountable than the presidential system.

Responding to Abdullahi’s submission, Ebute said the NUF chairman would not decide for the entire north.

“I am extremely pained to publicly address Professor Ango Abdullahi on a matter I consider very important for regional cohesion and the stability of Nigeria,” Ebute said in a satement.

“However, in the prevailing circumstances, I have no choice than to do the needful in view of his recent vitriolic comments against the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR and his 2019 reelection bid.

“No doubt, Prof. Ango Abdullahi is a respected academic, elder and son of the North. He is a brilliant man and the fourth indigenous Vice Chancellor of the premier and prestigious Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU) Zaria. I deem him a reference point anytime, Northern history comes into focus.

“With other prominent Northerners such as Wantaregh Paul Unongo a former minister of Power and Steel in the Second Republic, serving as NEF’s Vice Chairman, alongside an array of other officials, NEF was run purposefully and meaningfully in consonance with its original idea to which we were all signatories.

“We have never had issues within NEF because we adhered strictly to its core mandate, doctrine and operational principles of neutrality and non-partisanship.”

Ebute reminded Abdullahi that the forum he leads is apolitical, advising him to be cautious with political statements.

“I wish to remind Prof. Ango Abdullahi that NEF was conceived as an apolitical organization. Therefore, the recent widespread public statement, published in various media, which claimed members of NEF have dumped the 2019 reelection bid of President Buhari, credited to Prof. Ango Abdullahi is extremely in bad faith,” he said.

“It abuses the sacred guiding principles upon which NEF was founded; derived its strength and endorsed by the rest of us.

“For clarity sake, I wish to remind this NEF convener that NEF has not met in recent times and adopted a common position on the rejection or acceptance of the reelection bid of President Buhari or any other candidate vying for the office of the President of Nigeria in 2019.

“The public statement credited to Ango in all ramifications came to me as a rude shock. And I dare say, it is an abuse of his right to freedom of speech by aligning his personal thoughts with a group, which is not part of his thinking on the matter canvassed.”