Stop pandering to core North, forum tells Jonathan

A group, Middle Belt Consensus Forum
(MBCF) has counseled President Goodluck
Jonathan to stop courting the favour of the

‘core North’ in his onerous task of restoring
security in the country and deliver on his
electoral promises to Nigerians.
Addressing journalists in Abuja yesterday at
the end of their meeting, national coordinator
of the forum, Mr. Bitrus Maisamari, who
read the MBCF communique declared that
despite President Jonathan’s pandering to
the demands of the ‘core North,’ they had
remained unyielding in frustrating his efforts
and distracting his government.
The group noted that Jonathan’s strategy of
appeasing the core North has failed to
achieve the desired result, just as it stressed
that in spite of the olive branch extended to
some key political figures in the North by
President Jonathan, it was clear that they
would never accept him.
Maisamari recalled the excitement that
trailed the appointment of General Aliyu
Gusau, as Minister of Defence, but further
claimed that his engagement has not in any
appreciable way stopped the Boko Haram
menace.
“Since the coming on board of General Gusau
as Minister of Defence, Nigerians are yet to
see the so called experience that he has
brought to bear on the war against
insurgency as the so called “Spy Chief of
Nigeria.
“ Instead of working for Nigeria, General
Gusau is more concerned with championing
the campaign for the removal of the Chief of
Defence Staff and the service chiefs for
daring to challenge his plans to control the
Armed forces.
“Mr. President, as a true son of Nigeria, we
call on you to stop pandering to their interest.
We are equal stakeholders in Nigeria.
“The era of people being treated as second
class citizens as a result of religion or tribe
is gone for good.
“We make bold to state here that no Northern
leader has performed better than President
Jonathan and considering the very difficult
challenges he has faced from a section of
the country that vowed to make Nigeria
ungovernable, we give him a 70 per cent
pass mark and hereby declare our support
for him to run in 2015 presidential elections.”
The communique further noted that
President Jonathan’s only crime was his
eligibility to seek for a fresh mandate in 2015.  News source sun