Ango Abdullahi, a General without troops, Presidency blasts NEF leader

Aso Rock on Sunday dismissed the caustic criticisms against President Muhammadu Buhari made by leader of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Ango Abdullahi, declaring that he is as powerless as a General without troops.

It said that the Abdullahi-led group does not really speak for Northern elders, just as his opposition to Buhari’s reelection in 2019 did not amount to anything.

Presidential media adviser, Femi Adesina, in a statement said that Nigerians known who to listen to and not a paper tiger in the mould of Abdullahi.

According to Adesina: “Professor Ango Abdullahi on Sunday signed a long-winding statement on many issues relating to the North, and purportedly to the country.

“The former vice chancellor signed the statement under the banner of Northern Elders Forum (NEF). Hearing that title, you would think the body was a conglomeration of true elders.

“But the truth is that NEF is just Ango Abdullahi, and Ango Abdullahi is NEF. It is a quasi-organization that boasts of no credible membership, and its leader is akin to a General without troops.

“Before the 2019 presidential election, the one-man army called NEF had shown its antipathy against President Muhammadu Buhari, and its preference for another candidate. They all got beaten together.

“NEF is merely waving a flag that is at half-mast. President Buhari steadily and steadfastly focuses on the task of retooling Nigeria, and discerning

“Nigerians know the true state of the nation. They don’t need a paper tiger to tell them anything.”