A former lawmaker, Senator Kabiru Marafa, has asked the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, to retract his offensive remarks to the Northern Elders Forum and extend an apology to the elders and the Northern populace at large.
Marafa, who represented Zamfara Central senatorial district in the Seventh and the Eighth Senate, said, “Insulting elders is not in our culture and upbringing. No decent society will refer to its elders as a burden and paperweights. The North is not an exception.”
reports that Matawalle, in a reply on April 13 to the statement credited to the NEF that it regretted supporting President Bola Tinubu in the 2023 general election, said the forum had become a political burden for the region.
He said, “The so-called NEF is more or less a political paperweight trying to embark on a destructive journey that will bring the North to disrepute for the group’s personal and selfish gains.
“This NEF is more of a political burden to Northerners. The group is seeking to erode other people’s rights to be recognised or made relevant in the scheme of things despite the failure of their sponsored candidates in the 2023 general elections.”
Matawalle’s statement was titled, ‘Tinubu Presidency: Northern Elders Forum, a political burden to the North, they do not speak for the region.’
But calling Matawalle to order, Marafa said the unfortunate statement from Matawalle, if not addressed, could affect President Bola Tinubu’s electoral fortunes.
He said, “In the last week, I have been inundated with calls from well-meaning and prominent stakeholders in our region and party, the APC, who know my relationship with the President.
“They are worried and disturbed that the unfortunate statement by the Minister of State for Defence, if not addressed, could affect the president’s electoral fortunes in our region because it will be seen as if the minister spoke the mind of the president or the Presidency.
“The crux of the matter is that, whether you like them or not, these people are called Northern Elders, so, unless they are stripped of that title by the people of the region, insulting them is tantamount to insulting the entire people of the region.”
Marafa added, “As one of the senators who worked very closely with Asiwaju as party leader (as he was then called) from the formation of APC through the primaries that led to the emergence of General Muhammadu Buhari as APC presidential candidate in Lagos, the politics of the National Assembly leadership in 2015 and 2019 and the processes and intrigues that characterised the 2023 presidential primaries, I can say without mincing words that President Tinubu holds the North, the Northerners, and their leaders in high esteem.
“Although I’m not the mouthpiece of either the president or the Presidency, as a Northerner and an elder in the region, as an APC stakeholder and one that has worked closely with both the president and the Vice President, I want to state categorically that this view expressed by Mr Matawalle is his personal opinion and not in any way that of Mr President or the Presidency, and should, therefore, be disregarded.
“I know for sure that the North, Northerners, and the Northern elders are neither a burden nor a paperweight in the scheme of things in the region and the country as a whole. The president shares this view and, therefore, he is with me on this.”