Jonathan failed because he ignored advice – NEF

The Deputy National Leader of the Northern Elders Forum, Dr. Paul Unongo, said former President Goodluck Jonathan would have taken the credit for ending insurgency in the country if he had listened to the advice of the forum.

Unongo said NEF wondered why Jonathan refused to implement the group’s blueprint to end the war against the Boko Haram sect.

In an interview with our correspondent on Wednesday, Unongo said the recommendations which Jonathan allegedly ignored were being used by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The NEF leader berated some opinion leaders who said President Buhari’s anti-corruption war was selective.

Citing the trial of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Unongo said the President’s body language had shown that the new government would not condone corruption.

He said the NEF would not hesitate to criticise the new government if it acted against the wishes of the masses.

Unongo said, “We (NEF) have not written any letter to President Buhari on Boko Haram. I am sure he picked up the recommendations we sent to Jonathan and they are working for him. NEF didn’t condemn Jonathan because he is Jonathan. We gave Jonathan a piece of advice.

“We were talking to him for over two years. We told him that he cannot fight Boko Haram with obsolete equipment and we told him that the battle was not only about using arms. We told him to use psychological intelligence.

“We actually wanted him to get the credit for winning the deadly Boko Haram war. He (Jonathan) doubted the kidnap of the Chibok girls and actually was seen on the television dancing azonto. Our people were being killed in hundreds. This was the height of insensitivity and we just had to complain about that. We complained creatively.”

Unongo advised the All Progressives Congress to strengthen its internal democracy and concentrate on providing quality leadership that would move Nigeria forward.

He said Saraki acted within his right to contest the Senate Presidency against the directive of his party.