Northern Elders Endorsed Tinubu On Expectations, Not Principle- Ex-Gov Masari
Former Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari, has tackled the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) over its regrets for supporting President Bola Tinubu, saying the Northern elders endorsed Tinubu on expectations, and not principle.
Masari stated this in an interview with Daily Trust.
According to Masari, for anyone who supported President Tinubu to turn back in less than a year to express regret only meant the support was based on expectations and not principles.
The former governor said it was too early in the administration’s year for most of the criticisms it has suffered.
He added that the fuel subsidy removal that has plunged the country into untold hardship was equally promised during the campaign by the other leading contestants in the 2023 presidential election.
Masari 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,” he said.
“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,” he said.
Masari said the economic crises in the country are not peculiar to Nigeria alone.
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 ameliorate the pains Nigerians are going through within the period Tinubu has been in power.
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,” he added.
Calling on Nigerians to trust the process, Masari said, “the president has promised that he is aware of our pains. If he had said there was no pain, even we in the same party would have challenged him.”
Recall that the NEF said last month that the “North made a mistake in voting Bola Tinubu to the presidency in 2023.
The NEF spokesman, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, in a statement, said it is unlikely that they will repeat the same error in the future.”
The statement generated varying reactions, with Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle berating the forum.
