Northern Elders Forum: General without troops - Presidential Spokesman

Presidential Spokesman, Femi Adesina on Sunday described the Northern Elders Forum led by Professor Ango Abdullahi as a General without troops.

He said NEF is an organisation that cannot boast of any credible membership adding that the group had continued to show its displeasure with the Buhari administration even before the 2019 general election where their preferred candidate was roundly beaten by the President.

According to Adesina, "Professor Ango Abdullahi on Sunday signed a long-winding statement on many issues relating to the North, and purportedly to the country.

"The former vice chancellor signed the statement under the banner of Northern Elders Forum (NEF).

"Hearing that title, you would think the body was a conglomeration of true elders. But the truth is that NEF is just Ango Abdullahi, and Ango Abdullahi is NEF. It is a quasi-organization that boasts of no credible membership, and its leader is akin to a General without troops," he said

"Before the 2019 presidential election, the one-man army called NEF had shown its antipathy against President Muhammadu Buhari, and its preference for another candidate. They all got beaten together.

"NEF is merely waving a flag that is at half-mast. President Buhari steadily and steadfastly focuses on the task of retooling Nigeria, and discerning Nigerians know the true state of the nation. They don’t need a paper tiger to tell them anything." he added