Northern Elders Forum urges Buhari not to become a regional president of the north

NORTHERN elders have paid a courtesy call on president-elect General Muhammadu Buhari and urged him to ensure that his government does not become a regional one but an administration that caters for all Nigerians.

 

Over the weekend, a delegation from the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) visited General Buhari in Abuja, where they urged him to ensure that he when assumes office he remains Nigeria's president and not just the president of  northern Nigeria. Led by Nigeria's former permanent representatives to the United Nations, Alhaji Maitama Yusuf Sule, the NEF delegation also asked General Buhari to use the opportunity to correct the social ills of the past.

 

According to Alhaji Sule, God granted Nigeria a peaceful election against scary predictions that the country would disintegrate in 2015. Extolling the virtues of discipline and uprightness in General Buhari, he urged him to relentlessly pursue justice and make truth his watch word throughout his tenure.

 

Alhaji Sule said: “You are the president of Nigeria, you are not the president of northern Nigeria by the grace of God. Nobody expected that the elections would be peaceful, nobody expected that the elections would not lead to the disintegration of the country but by the grace of God, the elections were held peacefully.

 

 “On many occasions, I’ve called   for a revolution but I made it quite clear that I was not calling for a violent or bloody revolution. I wanted a kind of revolution led by Mahatma Gandhi, non-violent, bloodless revolution with the philosophy of Sathia Gria, as a revolution is a change of attitude."

 

He praised General Buhari as a truthful man, a man of integrity and a man of discipline, who fought corruption and gave Nigeria a sense of direction when he was head of state. Other NEF leaders who accompanies Alhaji Sule on the visit included Professor Ango Abdullahi and Paul Unongo.