The North East Unity Forum (NEUF) has frowned at what it called “unnecessary controversy deliberately stirred by utterances of the likes of Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed over the move by northern elders to prune the number of aspirants for the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
NEUF in a statement by its Chairman, Mohammed Abbah Hammajo, said the claim by Dr. Hakeem that the Northern Elders Forum is not affiliated to any political party or aspirant, is a deliberate disinformation calculated to hoodwink the gullible.
“We are particularly concerned by the apparent contradictions in the major dissenting voices principally represented by Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed and Elder Yahaya Kwande with a few insignificant ones in tow,” the group said.
It demanded explanation as to why Dr. Hakeem or his principal, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, kept silent throughout the period of the consensus exercise carried out by Professor Ango Abdullahi’s team, only to find their voices when the outcome did not favour them.
Hammajo noted that Hakeem and all those denouncing the process have failed to dispute the fact that Governors Aminu Tambuwal and Bala Mohammed, former Senate President Bukola Saraki and Malam Mohammed Hayatudeen actually initiated the process, or that they informed former president Badamasi Babangida of their intention, and requested elderly intervention and advice in the event that their efforts failed to produce consensus.