The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has expressed its dismay that President Bola Tinubu’s speech on the #EndBadGovernance protest did not touch the issue of banditry, which the group said has caused more deaths and destruction in the northern regions of the country.
The NEF’s spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, who stated this in a statement yesterday, said armed banditry is causing severe humanitarian crises in the regions that the president’s speech should have noted to demonstrate his political will to address the problem.
Recall that President Tinubu, on Sunday, addressed Nigerians after threedays of protest across Nigeria against high cost of living and “bad governance”.
But NEF expresed dismay tgat the speech did not touch on the banditry, kidnapping, rape, and various other criminal activities devastating the Northwest region and other parts of the North.
Recall that former Vice-Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU), Zaria, as well as the convener of the Northern Elders Forum, (NEF), Professor Ango Abdullahi, in a interview while speaking on the state of the nation, said Nigerians should go their separate ways if country isn’t working
He said, “I am suggesting that Nigerians should look at the document again and come to a conclusion whether they have done enough to be together or they have failed and take the appropriate steps that have been recommended.
“I am asking that Nigerians should convene a conference on it. We are already late by 10 years. We have to look at ourselves and see whether we have strived enough to build a nation before and after independence. My honest opinion at the moment is that, it has not; and that is the need to bring the conference together.
“At this time, there is no need to be sentimental about it; we cannot really build a country the way it is now. If at the end, we could not achieve any form of consensus, then we should go our separate ways”, he stressed.
