The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has taunted the Northern Elders Forum for calling on President Buhari to resign, insisting that Buhari must complete his tenure against all odds.
Following the spike in the insecurity in Nigerian in the last one week especially the one that leads to the massacre of 43 rice farmers in Borno state, there was a call from several quarters that Buhari should resign since he has failed to protect the citizens he swore to.
Northern Elders Forum throws their weight behind the call, describing the Buhari administration as the most dangerous in the history of the north when the security of lives and properties of Nigerians are concerned.
However, the Minister describes the call by the Northern Elders Forum as irresponsible and cheap talk insisting that Buhari must complete his tenure.
Recall last week, the Northern Elders Forum through their spokesperson, Hakeem Baba Ahmed has called on President Buhari to resign for failing to protect innocent Nigerians that have to continue to be slaughtered unabated.
Lai Mohammed in his response today while having a meeting with the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN) accused those calling for Buhari’s resignation as playing dirty and cheap politics.
The Minister said, “In the wake of the killing, there have been calls in some quarters for Mr. President to resign. Well, let me say here that this call amounts to playing dirty politics with the issue of security, and it is cheap and irresponsible.
“Mr. President was elected in 2015 for a four-year term and re-elected in 2019 for another four-year term. No amount of hysterical calls for resignation will prevent him from serving out his term.
He continued, “Now, let’s put things in context. Before Mr. President assumed office, Boko Haram could stroll into any city, especially in the north, to carry out deadly attacks. Abuja, the nation’s capital, Kano, Maiduguri, Jos, Damaturu, etc were regularly targeted. Motor parks, churches, mosques, shopping complexes were not spared. Today, that is a thing of the past. Suicide bombers used to have a field day detonating their bombs and killing innocent people.
According to Mr. Mohammed, calling on the President to resign any time there set back in the war against terror amount to cheap politicking and distraction, calling on all and sundry to desist from playing to the gallery with security issues.