‘You’ve no influence on northerners’ — coalition tackles NEF for criticising Tinubu

The Coalition of Concerned Northern Groups (CCNG) says the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has no influence on the region.

The CCNG was reacting to a recent comment by Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, spokesperson of the NEF, who said the north made a mistake by voting for President Bola Tinubu in the 2023 election.

“The north made a mistake in voting Bola Tinubu to the presidency in 2023, and it is unlikely that they (northerners) will repeat the same error in the future,” Suleiman had said.

In a statement on Saturday in Kaduna, Mohammed Ibrahim, president of the CCNG, said Suleiman’s comment is unfortunate, considering the fact that Tinubu has not even spent one year in office.

The coalition said since Tinubu assumed office, he has been making efforts to address the numerous challenges he inherited from Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

“We wish to draw the attention of the NEF that it is a very unwise move for it to engage in such a slander especially now that the hard work of the President is seen by Nigerians to be manifesting practically,” the statement reads.

“It baffles us that the NEF was silent when hundreds of innocent people were killed during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari following a clampdown on Shi’ites members in Kaduna in 2015.

“Were they not northerners that were murdered in an extrajudicial manner?

“Was it not during the Buhari regime that banditry became more prominent in the Northwest, a situation that has virtually killed the farming profession in the region and destroyed lives and property.

“Yet, the NEF never rose against that. We are hardly one year into this regime which started on a very difficult footing with many things to be put aright after being detracted by the immediate past regime.

“It will be un-elderly of an elders’ forum to demonise this regime instead of giving it the benefit of doubt.

“Reviewing the NEF claims that they mobilised the north in favour of President Tinubu, even as his major contender, Atiku Abubakar was a northerner, cannot be substantiated because they have no such influence over the electorate in the region.”

The coalition also passed a vote of confidence on the president.

“We wish to state categorically that the CCNG, is passing a vote of confidence on President Bola Ahmad Tinubu while calling on the NEF to reconsider its stance in the interest of the north and the northerners,” the statement added.