Some northern elders have disowned Professor Ango Abdullahi, over his recent statement that many people from the Northern part of the country were killed in the South East during the #EndSARS protests.
The elders, who strongly condemned the statement, asked Nigerians to ignore it, stating that it was a personal opinion of Abdullahi and not the general position of Northern elders as he erroneously portrayed.
The Northern elders, operating under the aegis of Coalition of Northern Elders for Peace and Development, in an issued statement, described the Professors statement as false, unfortunate, insensitive, callous and meant to instigate Nigerians against one other, insisting that the statement is capable of igniting ethnic killings and asked Nigerians not to fall prey to his antics.
In the statement issued by the groups National Coordinator, Engr. Zana Goni and its National Women Leader, Hajiya Mario Bichi, the northern elders said Abdullahi acted alone in his statement, insisting they were not part of it.
They said the elder statesmans unfounded claim of killing, at a time Nigerians had put past the ugly civil war experiences and were building bridges and working on consolidating national
We wish to let Nigerians know that Prof. Ango Abdullahis statement was his personal opinion and did not represent the position of Northern Elders as he had portrayed, the statement read.
It added that, What happened in some South-East States was a pure act of criminality and not an Igbo agenda and was not peculiar to the region. How can he say Igbo people killed Northerners? Nothing can be more misleading than this.
According to the statement, People were killed and properties destroyed in several parts of the country including some parts of the North. It is unfair to attribute this act of some misguided deviants as a collective Igbo agenda.
The Northern elders therefore, call our Northern and Southern brother to ignore this statement in its entirety, adding that We must continue to preach national unity and work together to defeat criminality in our country instead of attributing such act to a particular region.
