Former Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari, has criticized the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) for regretting supporting President Bola Tinubu during the last general election. The NEF spokesman, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, in a statement last month, said the North made a mistake in voting Tinubu to the presidency in 2023......READ THE FULL STORY>>.....READ THE FULL STORY>>
Suleiman said it is unlikely that they will repeat the same error in the future.
However, Masari, in an interview with Daily Trust, said the Northern elders endorsed Tinubu based on expectations rather than principles.
The former governor said it was too early in the administration’s first year for most of the criticisms it has suffered.
He said,“Those who say they are regretting supporting him (Tinubu) are saying it because they did not support on principles. They supported him on expectations, and when those expectations were not met for them, then they could say they regretted it.
“The problem is that some of us stood for principles (in supporting Tinubu), and a government that has come to serve for four years has served for six months, nine months, and you are passing judgments on it; that is absolutely wrong.”
Reacting to the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, who have been very critical of the APC-led government’s policies, Masari said there was no magic the opposition could have performed to alleviate the pains Nigerians are going through within the period Tinubu has been in power.
He added that the other leading contestants in the 2023 presidential election equally promised to remove the fuel subsidy that has plunged the country into untold hardship during the campaign.
He said,“Some of the people who are talking now, their own would have been worse. Since during the campaign, all the political parties, including those who are talking now, didn’t they promise that they would remove subsidy?
“Is there any political party that did not campaign on subsidy removal? Let us not go there. Because we are Nigerians, we are bad losers. And sometimes, the winners are supposed to be more accommodating and patient. That’s the price of leadership.”
