Northern elders to elite: Rescue Nigeria from failed leaders

The Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) Thursday appealed to the Nigerian elite to rescue the nation from what it described as “failed leaders”.

According to the forum, the country is in a fragile state.

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The forum, through its Director, Publicity and Advocacy, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, said this in Abuja while speaking at the ‘2nd Never Again Conference: 51 Years After Nigerian-Biafran Civil War’ organised by an Igbo think-tank, Nzuko Umunna.

He said the President Muhammadu Buhari had failed in all aspects of governance, calling on all well-meaning Nigerians to rise to the occasion of making Nigeria great again by speaking with one voice towards national cohesion.

“We finished this war in 1970 and within four years, virtually all the Igbos who had left the north who were still alive came back to the north, they continued with their lives.

“Northerners moved to the east and Nigeria moved on.

“Here, we are 51 years after, abusing each other, disputing history.

“It is a good thing that we are saying ‘Never Again’, but we need to recognise, ‘Never What Again’? The post-civil war elite has substantially failed this country, even more than those who plunged this country into the disaster that ended in 1970.

“The elite of Nigeria still speaks in a manner that suggests that we are still fighting a war.

“This means this country has not made any progress at all.

“We need to be very careful. We need history but our present and future should not become captives of the past.

“If we do that, we will never fix the problem, we will always fight over what happened in the past.”

Presidential spokesmen, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, neither answered phone calls nor responded to separate text messages sent to them seeking reactions to the allegation by the NEF that Buhari had failed in all aspects of governance.