After conducting a comprehensive review of the state of the nation, Northern Elders Forum (NEF) on Monday issued President Goodluck Jonathan a two-month ultimatum within which to end the Boko Haram insurgency, as well as rescue the kidnapped Chibok girls.
According to the forum, Jonathan had until end of October this year to produce the Chibok girls, or face mass opposition to his re-election ambition for 2015.
Two members of the forum, Barr Solomon Dalung and Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed who addressed journalists in Kaduna after its meeting, warned that, “In the event that President Jonathan fails to do this, Nigerians will be left with the only conclusion that he has forfeited his right to ask for our mandate beyond 2015.”
According to them, the forum’s decision became necessary in view of the security situation in the country, saying, “The security situation in our nation today represents the most serious threat to our individual and collective lives in our entire history.”
They further said, “Lack of a strong will at the level of the presidency to fight insurgency, as well as deep-seated corruption and incompetence in government and in the management of our security challenges have allowed a band of terrorists to take and hold vast parts of our land and population hostage, while every citizen lives in fear that they will be its next victim.”
They stressed that the forum did not believe that the Nigerian military could not defeat the insurgents. “We also reject the notion that multiple internal security challenges such as attacks on villages, ethno-religious conflicts and banditry springing up by the day in many parts of the North are all a coincidence.
“Indeed, we are convinced that most of these conflicts are being engineered to weaken the North politically and economically, by interests which intend to exploit such weaknesses for electoral benefits,” they said.
The forum noted that the state of security and the economic challenges of the North were deteriorating in spite of its wealth of leaders and elders, who should use their God-given privileges, power and influence to effect a reversal of the dangerous trends.
“It is no secret that the vast majority of northerners lament their marginalisation, insecurity and poverty and blames it in large part on the inability of unwillingness of its past and present leaders to utilise all access to power which they enjoy, to bring us redress and relief.
“General Yakubu Gowon, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, General Muhammadu Buhari, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Architect Namadi Sambo, General T.Y Danjuma and all retired chief justices of Nigeria from the North represent grossly under-utilised assets of the North.
“The NEF joins millions of northerners in appealing to these leaders to raise their level of involvement in the fortunes of our region in every endeavour or fora they are involved in. In these difficult days when every hand must be on deck, if these leaders cannot visibly help to transform the fortunes of the North in the next few months, they will leave northerners with the damaging impression that they have abandoned the region and the people to its seemingly irreversible decline and ultimate destruction,” the forum stressed.
It urged all leaders and political parties to demonstrate the highest level of commitment to the rule of law and the demands of the electoral process.
At all costs, they said, 2015 elections must be free and fair: “This means that any threat, which may provide a cover for militarising the electoral process must be eliminated before the elections. Every part of Nigeria must participate in these elections, and no citizen should be deprived of his right to vote under any excuse."
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