Spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed has questioned the rationale behind the foreign meetings between some presidential candidates and some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors.
Recall that Governors Nyesom Wike, Samuel Ortom, Okezie Ikpeazu and Seyi Makinde of Rivers, Benue, Abia, and Oyo states respectively met the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in Paris, France on Monday.
The PDP governors on Thursday in London, United Kingdom met the Labour Party (LP) and PDP presidential candidates, Peter Obi and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
The Herald had reported that upon return to Nigeria on Friday, the governors said that the meetings were in the interest of Nigeria.
However, the meetings have continued generate divergent reactions on social media.
Weighing in, Baba-Ahmed said in a series of tweets that the meetings showed the self-centredness of the politicians.
“Northerners are not the only ones in Europe and Asia. In the last few days, I saw Tinubu, Atiku, Ortom, Obi, Wike, and many others.
“We, they plan to govern, are the distractions? The deals they struck will be about how to handle us. Carve us out like carcass, and allocate powers and positions and resources to each other. Then they come back and set us to fight each other. It is all about them, and them alone
“Then they come back to Nigeria where we live with traffic and insecurity to ask us to trust them with power.
“What is it with London, Paris and Dubai that make them so attractive to our politicians when they want to discuss deals or untangle difficult matters? Just think how much it costs to go out of Nigeria to discuss Nigerian matters. Do we make too much noise? Are they afraid of us?” Baba-Ahmed said.