By Eric Elezuo
The Spokesman of the Tinubu Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mr. Festus Keyamo, has sent the Northern Elders’ Forum to the cleaners, saying that the group does not speak for the North.
Keyamo made the remarks while speaking during a very heated interview with Seun Akinbaloye on a live programme, Sunday Politics, broadcast on Channels TV.
Reacting to a comment made by the NEF Spokesman, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, who was also on the programme, that the forum will subject the presidential candidates to a marathon test to determine their agenda for the north before deciding who to support, saying that the North will not support any candidate without a consideration for the north.
“We will subject all candidates including Atiku, Tinubu, Obi through a rigorous process and they had better be willing because, believe me, we carry the responsibility on our shoulders to advise people in the north where to go. I am not saying this to impress anybody. We will exercise that responsibility seriously.
“What we promise not to do this time around was not to repeat what we did in 2015 and say ‘Vote for only Sai Baba” where we escort him to the villa but failed to sit him down and ask what he planned to do. It would no longer be about fixing the economy, security and the fight against Boko Haram, They must be specific.
“Buhari got away with it in 2015 and in 2019, we campaigned against him, saying this time he has failed and won’t be given another chance. Today, look at where the country is. We are not going to make that mistake again,” Baba-Ahmed hinted
Responding, Keyamo dismissed the forum as being on its own, and not the mouthpiece of the North. He noted that the group campaigned against President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019, yet Buhari won.
“Hakeem Baba-Ahmed is someone I respect so much, in fact, someone I want to be like. But I must say that the Northern Elders Forum does not speak for the North. In 2019, they campaigned against Buhari, and Buhari still won. Yes, they don’t speak for the North,” Keyano said.
