Supporting Jonathan In 2011 Was A Stupid Mistake That Mustn’t Be Repeated – Northern Elders

Northern EldersProfessor Ango Abdullahi has emphatically declared that voting for President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 was a political blunder that must not be repeated by the North in 2015.

The former Vice-Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria made his stance known on Tuesday in Maiduguri when prominent northern elders under the aegis of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), visited Borno State over the recent Baga military/insurgents clash.

Prof. Abdullahi, who who led a delegation of Northern elders to the state said their forum would soon drag President Goodluck Jonathan before the International Court of Justice over the recent killings in Baga in which the death of 185 civilians were blamed on Nigerian troops in the Multinational Joint Task Force in Baga Town.

Speaking on behalf of the forum’s leader, Alhaji Maitama Sule who could not make the trip, Prof. Abdullahi warned that “the north must not repeat the stupid mistake they made in 2011 by voting President Jonathan against their own interest.”

“The north has serious challenges ahead of it, and this may be what will determine the stake of the north, particularly in the political year nearer to us – the 2015. And we in the forum believe that any discussion that will not lead us in bringing power to the north in 2015 is not of interest for us. We will not be wasting our time on anything other than recouping what we have thrown away in 2015. It was sad that northerners threw away what is correctly their own.

“We know where the lapses are, and we are going to tackle you the governors on that. We know that what happened to us was a connivance which can be squarely put on the tables of the governors of the northern states,” he said,

Going down memory lane on his time as one of the 10 Nigerians that started the PDP but had to leave when the party began to derail some ten years ago, the bespectacled don said:

“I was a founding member of the PDP before I left; and I can tell you convincingly that we are sure of victory because we have the population, we have the delegates and everything that will ensure that the right of the north is respected in an arrangement that was very clear.

“I was part of those that agreed that the presidency be zoned to the south; and I was part of those who determined where it should start. And that was part of my crime for which I kept on asking God for forgiveness and apology for the people of the north. That was how we allowed Obasanjo, who came and decided to deal with us; and he dealt with us very well. For us to get our right turn back, it is going to take a huge effort, which remains the challenge before us and all the state governors,” he added.

He further noted that the northern leaders have not decided on which party or candidate to support for 2015 election.

“The NEF at the moment has no party; the only candidate we have are the northern people and the only party for now are the northern states. Everybody should forget his party and join us in this struggle. Once we all sit down and make a pronouncement that this is who is going to represent us as the president of this country – so be it. We have the numbers behind us and politics is about numbers. We have the delegates – though the PDP are very good at stealing votes,” he said.

“We have over the years learnt our lessons from other regions of this country; the South West and South-South have succeeded in getting the president and have sealed up their area now; you can’t reach there without their consent. So why can’t we do the same here.”

On the Baga killings, the renowned agronomist said his Forum had commissioned a consortium of legal experts to visit the town and get first hand information that would enable them file a water-tight legal case against President Jonathan at the Hague.

“We had wanted to go to Baga to see things by our self but due to some circumstances beyond us, we are now sending a team of lawyers who are to prepare a case for us to file at the International Court of Justice,” he said.

Governor Kashim Shettima, who could not hide his appreciation and showered praises on the elders for the visit, assured them of his unalloyed support on the northern agenda, even as he noted that the region is still a force to reckon with in terms of land mass, human, and even natural resources.

25 COMMENTS

  1. This is nothing but words of a selfish man…who tinks of a sectional interest….I tink the Northerners are Drunk for power..dats y dey are not taking into consideration dat dis is a country…..dat belongs to all of us and nt d north only….Y shud dia be Zoning @ d first place?….Is Zoning Credibility?….by the way…Didn’t the northern candidiate constested during d PDP primary? Or was it jst given to Goodlck wit out him contesting for it?…..Well,i believe d more dis selfish Northerners talks,the more dey give us reasons y dey are all illetrates….

    • Ýöû ärè vèrý true îñ ýöûr words. Imagine illiterates battling för power îñ äll angles,thèý rèällý wanna ğèt drunk äñð ðîè wîth power öf which îts ñöt gonna happen.

  2. Wat the forum is telling us is that the north is using boko haram to de stabilize jonathans administraton in other 2 reclaim the seat of gorvance which they claim rightful belong 2 them and obasanjo deceived them into letting it go.if northerners ar born 2 rule who is born 2 serve ? If they can’t alow another zone 2 rule 4 even 8yrs afta 53yrs of indpendent I tink its time to let go other zones so dat they wil rule over their namas

  3. It’s a pity. There is no need to fight ourselves because of politics. There is no any political administration without lapses. Jonathan has his flaws and many Nigerian are dissappointed because of the state of insecurity in the state. The NEF helped Jonathan to win, i think NEF can also helped him to find solution to these terrorists and insurgents in Nigeria,especially in the North. May God help us all.

  4. Ango Abdulahi made wonderful revelations about himself & cohorts: he is one of the disgruntled northern opportunists who is in the game of outsmarting others, who when they fail to get what they want, resort to other dangerous lines of actions. Security search lights should beam at him. He has been running from pillar to posts organizing ppl against the effort of fed.govt & maligning Mr President’s office. He is busy putting northern leaders together in his usual fashion of religious fanaticism. During time as V.C. of ABU, b/4 his administration, many students who were not muslims were killed in cold blood. He showed no remorse & was not moved. He is constructively & tactfully blood thirsty in his plans. He needs to be watched, especially in relation with boko haram organization.

  5. The nothern leaders are the evil behind the progress of nigeria and who told them that the are the most populated zone in nigeria.the are crying because their evil is hunting them back and any nigeria that want the progress of this country should never dream of voting any notherners again.

  6. Prof. Yes, carry out ur investigations even if d intention 4 so doin is but 2 find evidences strong enough wit wich 2 drag GEF (his excellency, the present president of d Federal Republic of Nig.) 2 d Hague. Yes, wit all intent, drag him 2 d court. But pls remember 2 also drag ur servants, ur errand boys (& men) who, in d first place caused & brought abt d killins in Baga, & d whole of northern Nig. (& who knows if they were in fact not d very one’s who had carried out d killins only 4 d Armed Forces 2 bear d blames!). We, d ppl of d north east who hav bn forced 2 bcom refugees in our land, forced 2 abandon our inheritances & bcom settlers in oda ppl’s lands beseech u, pls remember d spilled blood of our loved one’s killed by ur sons are cryin out 4 justice against u b4 D Almighty Judge, b4 whom, like it or not, u must 1 day stand 2 receive just recompense 4 all ur works on earth.
    So, dont b in a hurry, justice’ll find u. & we shall c then. 4 evry hidden secret will b then revealed & evry1’ll know u 4 who u realy are!

  7. It’s shocking dat a former uni vc and don cld descend to the lowst level of human reason and speak like an illiterate. Is dere any reason for d authorities to continue any search for boko haram? They hav bared their fangs, and their reps hav opend up. I am from adamawa state, a christian and i hav neva considred myself a northerner 4 obvious reasons. I personally think that Nigeria was a mistake, just like Yugoslavia and d soviet union. The so called northerners dont hav to rush, time is coming when everyone will hav to go his own way,and every parasite wil hav to find a new host.

  8. south south and south east are the problem of our dear country, ungrateful, criminals and those who tarnished the image of 9ja due to their evils act. may the Almighty Allah dealt with these idiots bounch of criminals.

  9. Who is this unscruplous reckless professor, saying presidency is north right, u need mental surgery to know that pple in plateu, benue, nassarawa, kogi, kwara, Taraba even reasonable part of kaduna shall fault your unethical theory

  10. Angol Abdullahi i know now that you’re boko haram member and one of their sponsors. Why are you sending lawyers to baga, you should go there for physical investigation bcos the lawyers may something that might indict president Jonathan. One day your poison hand will surely enter your mouth. YEYE boko haram member. We know all of you because by there fruit ye shall know them. BANZA KAWAI..

  11. The North is far better than south-south or south west, cos we love one another for those that claim they are from north they are laying, they are just a parasitic people and we don’t even want them from our region. What the Prof. was saying was right and i am with him.

  12. All of u have spoken well I am not sure dat fool of a man is a proff as cleam,we d north shld not tink d presidentail sit belong to us bcos d midil belt hav lean der lesson.we can not do witout dem,n9ja did not blong to NEF so u guys cannot do anytin the north NEF are not a place to decide who we b d president of dis our lovely country come 2015 GEJ will win cos d hand of almight God in upon him let d NEF stop bokoharam and let dis country move in d right derection.buhari and d NEF shld let goodlock tak dis country to d promise land .cos u can not stop him GEJ have sorth sorth,south east ,north centra,sorth west.even in d north he will divid d vote der I will vote 4him and der are so many orders dat will do as well here so NEF shld put a stop to d killing of our brodes and tink of d betterment of dis country. Come to tink of it u want to tak President GEJ to court after u have employed boko haram to kill ur our pple alah will not 4give u and all d pple behine d dead of dis innocent citizen der blood will not let u have rest in ur live.

  13. Despite being a professor, Ango is still a sectionalist whose only achievement was the introduction of religious sentiment in ABU & the subsequent killing of students by security agents. He did not contribute to GEJ’s victory at the elections because he & his brothers voted for Buhari. Why were the corpers, southerners & christians killed during the post elections crisis in the North in 2011 if actually he & his people voted for GEJ? The North has no problem with GEJ. Ango & his kindred, tribalists, religious fanatics, terrorists & expired sectional leaders are the ones he is agitating for. Ango wants to deceive the public. Who made him our leader? There is no monolithic North. Anytime he makes a statement, he should specify the people he is representing.

  14. I think this gives a clear explantion of what’s been going on in the north, a former vice chancellor of a renowned university in Nigeria, a proffessor for that matter…we have all seen the kind of graduates he has been producing(graduates in bsc. bombing and shooting).what a shame to proffessor hood and his state of origin.