Demonizing Tinubu Over Votes: Behave Like Elders, Apply More Wisdom – CCNG Tells NEF

…Says, Forum does not command electoral support

BY AMOS TAUNA, KADUNA – The Coalition of Concerned Northern Groups (CCNG), on Saturday, April 13, 2024 descended heavily on the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) over its threat not to vote for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027, stressing that the members of the Forum need to behave like elders by applying more wisdom before speaking on sensitive national issues.

The CCNG specifically noted that the statement credited to the NEF was totally uncalled for and lacks the elements of wisdom and caution expected of elders of a Forum made up of Northern elders.

A statement by the President of the CCNG, Muhammad Ibrahim, said that the Northern Elders Forum wrongly depicted President Tinubu by erroneously expressing regret for supporting and voting for him without clearly stating why.

CCNG further said that the NEF’s spokesperson rattled that the north will not accept a second-term for Tinubu as if the Forum control every Northern vote, adding that it was unwise for the Forum to engage in what he described as “unmeasured vituperations”.

Ibrahim noted that the hard work of President Tinubu is seen by Nigerians to be manifesting practically, stressing that it was on that note that the CCNG is passing a vote of confidence on President Tinubu.

He therefore called on the NEF to reconsider its unpopular stance in the interest of the north, northerners and Nigerians as a whole.

In the words of Ibrahim; “It baffles us that the NEF was silent when former President Muhammadu Buhari regime killed hundreds of innocent men, women and children when it 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 the 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,” he said.

The CCNG noted that the administration of President Tinubu is yet to clock one year in office in spite of the fact that it started on a very difficult footing with many things to be put a right after being detracted by the Buhari administration.

It specifically stressed that it was un-elderly of an elders’ forum to demonize the Tinubu-led administration instead of giving it the benefit of doubt.

The CCNG further said; “Reviewing the NEF claims that they mobilized 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.

“In comparison with the Buhari regime, the NEF is not fair to President Tinubu, who is currently enjoying the goodwill of Nigerians because of his commitment to national development and progress,” it said.