Spokesman for the Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) Professor Ango Abdullahi, yesterday said that the press conference convened by Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed and Solomon Dalung in Kaduna on Monday was done on behalf of the Forum.
President Goodluck Jonathan, in a statement through his spokesman Reuben Abati, had on Tuesday night while responding to the ultimatum issued by the duo of Baba-Ahmed and Dalung, said the Northern Elders’ Forum was misguided and ill-advised to have given him till October to end the Boko Haram insurgency and bring back the abducted Chibok schoolgirls.
The group had warned President Jonathan against seeking a second term in office if the Chibok girls are not rescued.
Reiterating the Forum’s position yesterday in Abuja, Prof Abdullahi, who is a former Vice-Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, said they were not taken aback by the presidency’s reaction to their ultimatum.
His words: “One is not completely surprised with the reaction of the presidential aide on the press conference put together by Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed and Solomon Dalung in Kaduna.
“I want to make it absolutely clear that the press conference convened by Dr Hakeem and Dalung was convened with full knowledge and support of the Northern Elders Forum. In fact, it’s a product of a meeting that took place that both translated into a press statement. So, that is to disabuse the mind of anybody who doubts that these two gentlemen are speaking for themselves. They are speaking on behalf of the Forum”.
He explained why they gave an ultimatum to the president thus: “people who seek mandate at election do so on the basis of certain things they do or do not do.
“The role the Nigerian military has been playing not only here but also around the world in peacekeeping operation from the days of Congo and recently Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan and so on, for it to fail or to appear to have failed to deal with the kind of situation that we are talking about, comes a little bit as a rude shock to those of us who know the history of the Nigerian military”.
Abdullahi asked: “What is it that is failing? Is it the military that is failing or the kind of leadership or political environment where the military is supposed to operate that is failing?” adding “Since the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, it is incumbent upon him to make sure that the forces he commands are responding to the security challenges of this country. If he fails to do this, then what other promises Nigerians expect from him – that will make them to say this is the man to continue to provide leadership in this country”.
