JUST IN: ‘You Are Mere Irritants, Featherweight’, Presidency Fires Back At NEF

The Presidency has hit back at the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) over statement on the rising insecurity in the northern region of the country, blaming the President, Muhammadu Buhari for failing to tackle the situation.

NEF Convener, Ango Abdullahi had lamented that the situation is getting worse by the day but the President, as well as governors, appear to be incapable of bringing the situation under control.

“Our current circumstances in the North demonstrate that President Buhari’s administration has woefully failed to achieve either. This is unacceptable,” Abdullahi had said in a statement on Sunday.

But, the Presidency, in its reaction to the NEF statement, described the group as a mere irritant and featherweight group without credible membership.

In a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina the NEF was likened to a General without troops.

“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,” Adesina noted. 

“The former vice-chancellor signed the statement under the banner of the 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.”