Buhari too slow, Northern Elders Forum laments

The Northern Elders Forum has lamented most of the challenges facing the nation are due to the slow response of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Its spokesman Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, in an interview on Arise Television monitored by THE NATION, said Buhari should wake up to his responsibilities.

He asked the President to seek help on how to manage Nigeria, especially in the area of security.

“If I had an opportunity to speak with the President, I would say: ‘Sir, please wake up and smell the coffee, this country is falling apart.

“It is in very serious danger, it is going down under your watch. You swore in 2015 and again in 2019 that you will protect the citizens, the territorial integrity of Nigeria.

“Sorry, sir, you are not doing that, doing it well or you are not doing it at all. And one of the things you should do is to call about 200 to 500 Nigerians, without any preconditions, and say: ‘ladies and gentlemen, I believe that this government will benefit from some quality advice in terms of the way forward.

“Two, take your governors more into confidence, speak to them. They are very important people. They have responsibilities under the constitution and they can carry out those responsibilities particularly on matters of security. What do you want?

“What can we do together? What can I do for you and what can we consider a legitimate idea or a crazy idea?”

He added: “Thirdly, please ask real questions about what is going on with the security in this country. Something is wrong. You keep changing things but we see the same result. We are becoming insecure by the day.

“Either it is your attitude as commander-in-chief of the armed forces or the people you trust to defend and protect us. There must be something about the security that you and the people who are fighting this country don’t understand.

“Why are we being so insecure? Why is it not possible for Nigerians to deal with banditry, kidnappings? These things two, three years ago do not exist. Is anybody asking these questions?