The Northern Elders Forum, NEF, yesterday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to assert his constitutional powers to keep all Nigerians united and secured in every part of the country.
The call followed the unanimous decision of the Southern Governors’ Forum in Asaba, Delta State, to ban open grazing, among other issues affecting the interest of the region.
NEF’s Director of Publicity and Advocacy, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, made the call in a statement, titled, ‘’A Statement by Northern Elders Forum on Escalating Threats to National Security, Unity and Integrity’’, issued in Abuja.
Rejecting the position of the Southern governors, NEF demanded that President Buhari either asserts the powers the constitution gave him to protect the country’s territorial integrity and secure citizens, or accept that he was incapable of leading the nation through the present challenges. The Northern elders also urged the President to “improve his levels of competence, awareness that the nation is sliding into disaster, and sensitivity to the frustrations of Nigerians.”
The Forum further urged the Southern governors to be clear in their condemnation of alleged efforts by secessionists and criminals to exterminate federal presence and northerners from the region.
NEF aslso accused Northern governors of receding into irrelevance through their purported silence over multiple assaults on Northern communities in the south where they also had equal rights to security and dignity. The statement read: “Northern Elders Forum(NEF) is convinced that it is time to respond to issues that threaten our collective security and the unity and integrity of the country.
“The Forum has held back on joining issues with persons and groups intent on provoking the type of crises that will escalate beyond control or mitigation by leaders who are collectively showing definite signs that they are unwilling to steer the country away from the dangerous threats which are crippling it.
Southern govs building ethnic monster “It is now clear that elected people sworn to protect the constitution and protect the unity and integrity of Nigeria have decided to surrender to deeply divisive or outrightly irredentist and secessionist tendencies and movements.
“In the South East, governors are yielding their political turf and mandates to secessionists, criminals and subversives who think they can exterminate federal presence and northerners from the region, and achieve dubious political goals related to 2023, or break away from the country.
“In the South West, elected leaders and pampered ethnic bullies are closing ranks to provide a front that apes the do-what-we-want-or-we-leave-the-country strategy of the marginalized leaders of the South East.
“The South South is squeezed between fear and uncertainty, and its leaders are gambling that they can benefit from further weakening the federal administration and the North if it rides along with the rest of the South.
“Governors are building ethnic monsters and hiding behind them to whip up sentiments in a crude attempt to extract concessions no one is in a position to give or guarantee. “A plastic unity is being contrived to create the impression that the entire South is united behind shared grievances against the Presidency and Fulani herders and all northerners who are cast as fair game in responding to all of President Buhari’s multiple failures.
Attempts to split North “A desperate but futile attempt is being made to split the North along lines that suit people who ignore its complexities and plurality when it is convenient to lump all Northerners and submit them to humiliation or attacks. “The NEF recognizes that most of these provocations feed from the widespread perception of a weak national leadership and a broken political process that has become captive of narrow political interests.
“For the record, the forum restates its support for a programmed transition that will eliminate open grazing and the establishment of productive, safe and sustainable options in managing our huge national asset in animal husbandry. This cannot be achieved with threats and harassment, but with commitment and collaboration involving all governments and stakeholders.
“It is in everyone’s interests to support an urgent national initiative that will engineer a safe and productive transition to the end of open grazing.In the meantime, the forum must warn those attacking and killing Fulani headers to stop.”
“There are limits to every community’s tolerance, and the forum strongly advises that lines are respected in the manner we treat Nigerians who are vulnerable wherever they live.