The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has questioned the state of the President, saying there is great fear in the country because no one is sure who is in charge, due to Buhari's inability to get the country under under control.
The forum which made this known in a statement signed by its director, publicity and advocacy, Dr Hakeem BabaAhmed, said there's no shame in the President admitting that he's no longer capable of discharging his duties.
Ahmed said there's fear everywhere in the country especially among northerners who no longer feel secure in the Southern part of the country.
He called on the President to live up to his responsibilities by protecting the nation’s territorial integrity, secure citizens or cede power to a more capable hand.
“The Forum restates that the North will not be cowed and stampeded into escorting political ambitions of politicians at the cost of its rights, security and dignity. It demands that President Buhari asserts the powers our constitution gives him to protect our territorial integrity and secure citizens, or accept that he is incapable of leading the nation through these unprecedented challenges.
“Attacks on lawful Fulani and other northerners in the South must stop, and those who have killed them must be brought to book. The nation needs to know that northerners in many parts of the South now live in heightened fear as they are profiled and harassed by elements in host communities, who believe that there are no consequences for their actions.
“The forum demands an end to attacks on federal agents and facilities. Governors in the South must be unambiguous in their condemnation and resistance against these dangerous activities”, the NEF said.
The Northern Elders said if Nigeria is to survive its current difficulties and build a better nation, President Buhari must improve his levels of competence and awareness as the nation is sliding into disaster.
“Other political leaders who take advantage of the limitations of the President to light fires should know that they will get burnt in them. The overwhelming majority of Nigerians do not want war or an end to our union. We just want an end to insecurity, escalating cost of living and the hate and the fear which our leaders are triggering”, the statement noted.
The NEF expressed disappointment that some elected officials have taken sides with secessionists, especially in the southern part of the country.
“It is now clear that elected people sworn to protect the constitution and protect the unity and integrity of Nigeria have decided to surrender to deeply divisive or outright irredentist and secessionist tendencies and movements. In the South East, governors are yielding their political turf and mandates to secessionists, criminals and subversives who think they can exterminate federal presence and northerners from the region and achieve dubious political goals related to 2023, or break away from the country.
“In the South West, elected leaders and pampered ethnic bullies are closing ranks to provide a front that apes the do-what-we-want-or-we leave-the-country strategy of the marginalised leaders of the South East. Governors are building ethnic monsters and hiding behind them to whip up sentiments in a crude attempt to extract concessions no one is in a position to give or guarantee.”