April 16, 2024

Group, Arewa Progressive Forum (APFO) has disowned Northern Elders Forum (NEF) over a comment on President Bola Tinubu’s presidential approach to security in the region, saying the actors behind NEF’s outburst were more interested in personal gains than unity and survival of Nigeria.

The group while stating that the elders’ position was not a collective decision of sons and daughters of the North, noted that Tinubu has so far shown interest in addressing the security challenges in the country and North in particular by appointing credible sons of the region into sensitive security positions in addition to ongoing daily military and police operations in the North.

The Nation recalled that the Northern Elders Forum had claimed to have regretted its decision to vote for President Bola Tinubu in the 2023 elections, with a threat that the north had learned its lesson over heightened security challenges under the Tinubu-led administration.

Addressing the newsmen on the development, the national secretary of the forum, Magaji Abbas Danbatta regretted that the recent outbursts of the Elders forum did not represent the Northern agenda for peace and national unity of the country which is not negotiable.

He noted that the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, and Minister of State Defence, Bello Matawalle, have been up and doing in their efforts to ensure peace returns to the north when they have the opportunity to serve under Tinubu’s led presidency.

“To us, President Tinubu’s approach to the issues of security in the North so far, especially Northwest is one of the best compared to his immediate predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari’s approach.

“Northern elders should be seen as mediators or opinion shapers on national unity, cohesion, and progress without regional bias. This is key because Nigeria’s unity can’t be negotiated on the page of newspapers”, he added.

The group further supported the Minister of State Defence, over his mature response to the NEF outbursts against President Tinubu, saying, the people behind the claim were more interested in personal gains than the unity and survival of Nigeria.

The group however advised the concerned elders to leverage one of their members, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed who is the Special Adviser to Vice President Kashim Shettima on political matters to facilitate a meeting with the presidency on better to go about their interests rather than through the media.