Nigeria: Northern leaders score Buhari low, reject him for 2019

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(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Elders, leaders of socio-political organisations and key stakeholders from the northern part of Nigeria have scored the performance of President Muhammadu Buhari low and, consequently, rejected him as their candidate for the 2019 general elections. The leaders who met on Saturday in Kaduna insisted that the present leadership representing the region has failed in its mandate and, therefore, must be replaced by competent persons. Leaders of the Northern Elders Forum, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Borno Elders Forum, and Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria were among those present at the meeting. In a communique read by a member of the Northern Elders Forum and Chief of Staff to Nigeria’s Senate President, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, the northern leaders lamented that almost three years after President Buhari was sworn in, the economy, security and political fortunes of the region have continued to deteriorate. To make matters worse, they said the Buhari administration is doing little or nothing to salvage the situation.

President Buhari had swept to power promising to tackle insecurity, fight corruption and boost Nigeria’s economy. However, the northern leaders believe his administration has not demonstrated enough strong will to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency, rural banditry and herdsmen/farmers clashes that have claimed scores of lives in many parts of the region. They added that little effort has been made to tackle the poverty that has continued to ravage the region and the entire country. “We demand immediate and decisive steps to improve the security of lives and economic assets in the North by the federal and state governments. Too many communities are at the mercy of attacks from sundry groups of criminals who appear to have unchallenged access to space and weapons,” Baba- Ahmed said.