Buhari overjoyed as Northern leaders assures him of full support

Northern leaders gathered on Monday in
Kaduna, the Kaduna State capital and told
President Muhammadu Buhari to work
harder at fixing the nation’s economy
because there was hunger and starvation in
the land.
The northern leaders, however, said that
despite the current economic woes
characterising the President Buhari’s
administration, their votes for him (Buhari)
in the 2015 presidential election were never
wasted.
If Buhari or any other northerner presented
himself for Presidency in 2019, they said,
they would gladly vote for the individual.
A former Secretary of the Independent
National Electoral Commission, Dr. Hakeem
Baba-Ahmed, who spoke on behalf of the
northern elders at the Northern Group’s
Summit organised by the Northern Elders
Forum in Kaduna on Monday.
Besides, Baba-Ahmed said the summit was
being held in Kaduna because of the
prevailing peace brought about by the
decimation of the Boko Haram sect by the
Buhari administration.
He said, “Today, we meet in Kaduna in a
vastly-improved security atmosphere, with
the Boko Haram sect pinned to enclaves.
Some will say thank you to President Buhari;
we will say, you have delivered on one of
your promises, which was to improve our
security.”
The former INEC boss, however, reminded
the President that there was hunger and
starvation in the land.
He said, “We will not join those who say
President Buhari should stop reminding us
of a past that is haunting us today. But we
will join those who remind him daily that
hunger is stalking millions of homes.
Inflation is making life difficult by the day.
People are losing their jobs. Businesses are
closing down. Infrastructure is decaying.
Young Nigerians are losing hope of being
employed. Our hospitals are full of people
who suffer mysterious illnesses, and they
cannot afford the fees.”
Baba-Ahmed said despite the current
economic woes in the country, the northern
votes for Buhari in 2015 were not wasted,
insisting that the North did not make
mistakes in voting for the President.
He added, “So, those who are disposed to
listen, please listen. Northern votes were not
wasted in electing President Buhari. In
2019, we will also use our votes in a manner
consistent with our interests as northerners.
We did not make a mistake in putting up a
solid, united front as northerners in spite of
our ethno-religions differences.”
Meanwhile, the Chairman, Northern
Governors Forum and helmsman of Borno
State, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, has said that
nobody, be it the Indigenous People of
Biafra or any other separatist agitators, can
divide Nigeria.
Shettima, while addressing the leading lights
of the region which included, governors,
senators, captains of industries, retired
senior military officers, also hailed Buhari for
fulfilling one of his promises of decimating
the Boko Haram insurgents in the North-East
and other parts of the region.
The activities of the dreaded Boko Haram
insurgents had claimed over 20,000 lives
since 2009 and rendered no fewer than two
million people homeless.
Shettima said the current calls by some
Nigerians particularly the Igbo and other
ethnic nationalities in the country were
purely the handiwork of those who had lost
in the “chess of power politics” in the
country.
He noted that there was no single ethnic
nationality in the country that had a greater
stake in the continued existence of Nigeria
than the Igbo, saying that continuous
agitation for the decimation of the country
would remain an illusion.
Besides, Shettima argued that the greatest
tragedy that befell the country was the
emergence of the Goodluck Jonathan
administration.
The Borno State governor noted that the
Jonathan administration made every effort
to not only divide the North but the entire
country along ethnic and religious lines.
He added that no matter the differences,
nobody or group could balkanise the
Nigerian nation.