By: EMMANUEL AGBO, Kaduna
Coalition of Concerned Northern Groups (CCNG), has passed a vote of confidence on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s led administration.
The president, CCNG Muhammad Ibrahim, in a press statement made available to Journalists in Kaduna on Saturday, was responding to the statement attributed to Northern Elders Forum, (NEF) that the North will not vote for president Tinubu in 2027 presidential election.
It would be recalled that the immediate past chairman of the Kaduna state chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN) Rev. Dr. John Joseph Hayab on Friday, also slammed the Northern Elders on the ground of misplaced priority.
The Coalition president lamented that the NEF was silent when the government of former president, Muhammadu Buhari murdered hundreds of innocent men, women and children when it clampdown on northeners who are Shi’ites members in Kaduna in 2015, adding that it was during thesame Buhari’s administration that banditry became more prominent in the North.
“The Coalition of Concerned Northern Groups (CCNG) finds it pertinent to respond to the recent ill-fated statement made public by the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) wrongly depicting the president Bola Ahmad Tinubu.
“We wish to draw the attention of the NEF that it is a very unwise move for it to engage in such a slander especially now that the hard work of the President is seen by Nigerians to be manifesting practically.
“It baffles us that the NEF was silent when the former President Muhammadu Buhari regime killed hundreds of innocent men, women and children when it clampdown on Shi’ites Members in Kaduna in 2015. Were they not northerners that were murdered in an extrajudicial manner?
“Was it not during the Buhari regime that the banditry became more prominent in the Northwest, a situation that has virtually killed the farming profession in the region and destroyed lives and property. Yet the NEF never rose against that.
“We are hardly two years into this regime which started on a very difficult footing with many things to be put aright after being detracted by the immediate past regime. Hence, it will be un-elderly of an elders’ forum to demonize this regime instead of giving it the benefit of doubt.
“Reviewing the NEF claims that they mobilized the north in favour of President Tinubu, even as his major contender, Atiku Abubakar was a northerner, cannot be substantiated because they have no such influence over the electorate in the region.
“In comparison with the Buhari regime, the NEF is not fair to President Tinubu who is currently enjoying the goodwill of Nigerians because of his commitment to national development and progress.
“We wish to state categorically that the CCNG, a coalition of concerned Northern Groups, is passing a vote of confidence on President Bola Ahmad Tinubu while calling on the NEF to reconsider it’s stance in the interest of the north and the northerners.
