The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has expressed shock at the “contemptuous and irresponsible response” of the presidency, through Femi Adesina, to the alarm by senior citizens in the region.
Adesina had lambasted the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) over comments on the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari to protect the lives and property of Northerners.
Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, CNG spokesman, in a statement Monday night, said Adesina was ridiculing Buhari “in the guise of protecting his interest”.
It said the peak of betrayal was Adesina’s reference to Professor Ango Abdullahi as a “general without troops”.
“He only meant to mock Buhari as “an ineffective general commanding large troops and a state mandate but failing to save the people he leads from what he once personally labelled,” ragtag army.”
“What Adesina fell short of mentioning was perhaps that his boss though actually in the army and rose to the rank of Major General, was in the real sense not in any combat unit of the military; rather he served throughout in the S and T unit involved with store keeping, and catering services which perhaps explains the apparent inability to manage even the home front.
“Typical of the crowd around the old general, Adesina could not exempt the administration of the facts laid out by the northern elders beyond irresponsible, clumsy and indecorous gaffes devoid of the true essence of the matter.
“Adesina, in a desperate haste to defend the indefensible, only succeeded in exposing himself as an ethnic bigot with an endemic hatred for other non-yoruba ethnicities to the point of rejoicing over the killings of innocent northerners due to the incapacity of the government he serves.
“Our Coalition is not surprised that Mr Adesina stopped at childish insults because he has nothing with which he can defend the Presidency against the position of the NEF, to wit, that the federal government has lost control over the security of lives and property of Northerners, and Northerners are fed up with being killed by an administration they helped elect,” he said.
The statement said Adesina’s ignorance may be tolerated because he works in an environment that puts little store in respecting loyalty and service to the nation.
CNG called Adesina’s response was a sad reminder of the type of people who serve President Buhari.
“On the same day Mr Adesina released his laughable response, an APC Governor of Katsina, the President’s State was categoric in his admission of the administration’s failure and openly apologised to citizens of the State over their plight, something the Presidency could learn from.”
The statements hailed the NEF and urged the body to continue with their plans to mobilize other groups to create a momentum that would end killings in the North.
