The Presidency and the Northern Elders Forum have disagreed on the right way the government should respond to the various agitations for secession in the country.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, who spoke on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ programme on Friday described secession agitators as “charlatans” sponsored to bully President Muhammadu Buhari thinking he would cower or panic. He maintained that the Buhari administration would not be kicked out of power by any group through blackmail.
The presidency stressed that the Buhari government was democratically elected. It, therefore, advised those who want to lead the country to wait for two more years to take over power in 2023 through the ballot boxes.
Growing disaffection and insecurity in the country have made some persons declare their support for a Yoruba nation and a Biafra Republic.
Yoruba rights activist, Sunday Adeyemo also known as Sunday Igboho as well as the Chairman of socio-political group, the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination, Prof Banji Akintoye, and other proponents of self-determination last week declared their allegiance to the Yoruba nation.
A former militant in the Niger Delta region, Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, also recently announced himself as the leader of the new Biafra de facto Customary Government in the South-East.
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But speaking on Friday, Shehu urged people with “strong ambitions” to wait for another two years to contest in the 2023 presidential election.
He said : “I want to assure Nigerians that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is addressing multiple challenges that are facing the country especially in dealing with security and yet we are still making progress in agriculture, economy, anti-corruption, which are the key policies that brought the party and the government to office.
“It is sad for the country that opposition is exploiting some of these things. It is quite unfortunate and I want to assure that the president remains focused on preserving the security and unity of this country.
“It is an established fact that all nations of the world face problems and what is expected of all well-meaning members of the society is that they should team up with the government so that together we will all fight criminality and insurgency and all that.
“We accept that dissent is allowed, this is a democracy and people have a right to tell truth to government but we must be careful in doing that. Nobody can bring down the government because this is a government elected democratically.
“Government in a democracy comes through periodic elections and if we have a government in office as we have, sponsored by political parties to win the elections, it is telling you that that confidence of the public is still there.
“People with strong ambitions, wait till four years, in fact, in our case, two more years to go to election and President Buhari will not be a candidate in that election.”
The spokesman for the Northern Elders Forum, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, who was also on the programme, however, said nobody was interested in bringing down the Buhari government.
He chastised the presidency for labeling critics of the Buhari administration as enemies and accusing them of trying to bring down the government.
According to Baba-Ahmed, Nigerians want to live in a safe and secure country and the president must protect the life and property of the citizens, adding that Buhari must listen to the grievances of secessionists.
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