The Northern Elders Forum says many Nigerians regret getting rid of former President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 elections to vote in the incumbent, President Muhammadu Buhari.
Speaking on Tuesday on Arise TV’s ‘The Morning Show’ breakfast programme, the NEF’s Director of Publicity and Advocacy, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, said Buhari had disappointed millions of Nigerians including members of the All Progressives Congress who trusted in his leadership prior to the poll six years ago.
Baba-Ahmed further said Nigeria needs a President who would act in the “opposite direction” of Buhari in terms of economic policies, security, amongst others.
He said, “Is there any Nigerian who is not disappointed in President Buhari including diehard APC people? Is there anybody who would not tell you he wished President Buhari had done much better?
“We raised huge expectations, we told people, ‘Get rid of Jonathan, put Buhari there, he would fix corruption, he would fix insecurity, he would fix the economy’ (but) look at where we are now.
“How can anybody say they are happy with the record of President Buhari, even the people very close to him would tell you that they wished he could have done much better and he could have done much better and he hasn’t?
“So, what we need to do now is to get ready to elect another President who would go in the opposite direction, a President who has a vision and a clear idea of what governance involves rather than just being a President. So, I am disappointed and that is why today, I am actively involved in trying to see that a new leader emerges in getting Nigerians a new lease of life,” Baba-Ahmed noted.
Goodluck Jonathan was Nigeria’s Vice-President between 2007 and 2010 on the platform of the Peoples’ Democratic Party.
He later assumed position as the President in 2010 after the death of then-President Umaru Yar’adua.
Jonathan subsequently contested the 2011 presidential election and won but lost his reelection in 2015 to Buhari.
With the 2023 elections approaching, there have been reports that Jonathan would join the APC but the PDP has insisted that the former President would not be leaving the party.
Meanwhile, a powerful delegation of the PDP reached out to former President Jonathan not to abandon the party amid the thickening plot by the ruling All Progressives Congress to field him for the presidency in 2023.
Last week, the National Secretary, APC Caretaker, and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee, John Akpanudoedehe, said that former President Goodluck Jonathan could contest the next Presidential elections in 2023 if he joins the party.
