The Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF), has denied any division in its leadership following the endorsement of presidential aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as consensus candidates.
NEF’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, while making the clarification to newsmen in Kaduna on Wednesday, explained that the consensus arrangement of the PDP had the blessings of its leader, Prof. Ango Abdullahi.
According to Baba-Ahmed, “What he did on the consensus was a good thing. What he wanted to do is very clear. He did what he did as Prof Ango Abdullahi and not as a convener or Chairman of the Northern Elders’ Forum.”
He further explained that the leadership of the forum is solidly behind Prof. Ango Abdullahi for coming up with consensus candidates in the PDP from the North.
According to him, “We are loyal to him (Ango Abdullahi).”
The former Secretary of the Independent National Electoral Commission stated that they were not against Prof. Ango Abdullahi, adding that “he is committed to orderly and good governance, and as such, we are loyal to him.”
The forum’s Director of Media and Advocacy lamented that what the country was going through in the last decades was because Nigerians elected poor leaders, saying, “I think it is not their fault but also our fault too.”
He opined that something was wrong with Nigerians, stressing that “they don’t elect good leaders who care about the country, instead they elect leaders who only care about themselves.”