The presidency on Sunday night described the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) as an irritant and featherweight group without a credible membership.
The NEF had on Sunday blasted the Federal Government and state governors for the rising security problems in the country.
In a statement signed by its Convener, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, the Forum claimed that government at all levels had lost the political will to protect the citizens from rampaging insurgents, bandits, and other criminal elements in the country.
However, in a statement issued by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Femi Adesina, the presidency likened the NEF to “an army General without troops.”
He said: “We are not surprised by this latest statement by Prof. Abdullahi, and our past position on what his group represents remains unchanged: a mere irritant and featherweight.
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“The former vice-chancellor signed the statement under the banner of Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF). Hearing that title, you would think the body was a conglomeration of true elders.
“But the truth is that NEF is just Ango Abdullahi, and Ango Abdullahi is NEF. It is a quasi-organization that boasts of no credible membership, and its leader is akin to a General without troops.
“Before the 2019 presidential election, the one-man army called NEF had shown its antipathy against President Buhari, and its preference for another candidate.
“They all got beaten together.
“NEF is merely waving a flag that is at half-mast. President Buhari steadily and steadfastly focuses on the task of retooling Nigeria, and discerning Nigerians know the true state of the nation. They don’t need a paper tiger to tell them anything.”
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