The Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, has described the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) as a “political burden” to the North.
Matawalle described the forum’s utterances against President Bola Tinubu as ‘mediocre noise’ of people seeking political relevance to overburden the system and create political disunity among Nigerians.
The former Zamfara governor said this in a statement on Saturday, April 13.
He said, “This NEF is more of a political burden to Northerners. The group is seeking to erode other people’s rights in order to be recognised or relevant in the scheme of things despite the failure of their sponsored candidates in the 2023 general elections.
“In as much as many have overlooked them in respect of their utterances, it is pertinent to underscore their overbearing attitude on issues that affect political unity and cohesion. They have become more of a burden. They can not offer any positive idea or thought about the future of Northern Nigeria or, indeed, of Nigeria and its unity and togetherness.
“We all know President Bola Ahmed Tinubu won the February 2023 presidential election convincingly. So, who is the NEF to want to undermine the president’s victory and even threaten to unseat him?
“This same group of people have intentionally shied away from their responsibility of engendering unity in the North by appreciating the incremental development being brought to the North by Ministers appointed by President Tinubu from the North, especially North West. The NEF has not deemed it fit to seek the audience with Mr. President to discuss issues affecting the Northern region despite the numerous challenges facing the North rightly highlighted by the President and being addressed by him.
“The group has also not yet visited any of the affected ministers dealing with issues of security, agriculture, water resources, police affairs, Education, Health, Budget, foreign affairs, or any head of security agencies in the country so far.”
Matawalle said the majority of them are more interested in faulting the government so as to be recognised or accorded some relevance.
“Our region, the North, is united, disciplined and politically-driven enough not to listen and accept being teleguided by any group of elites who had fed fat in the past on the North’s resources and opportunities and destroyed the region and nation due to their selfishness,” he added