Why we are planning Northern summit —Ango Abdulahi

The Secretary of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Professor Ango Abdullahi, has said the forum was planing to organise a Pan Northern summit to advise  the Federal Government on steps to take in addressing the myriad of problems bedevilling the country.

Addressing a press conference in Kaduna State on Saturday, the former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University revealed that the forum would continue to provide platforms in which they would be heard.

“As elders of  the region, during the last dispensation, we were not silent on some issues bedevilling the region as well as the country. We made our voices heard especially during the campaign, now we also feel it is time we talk for the progress of the region and the country.

“If the North is shivering, by extension, the other region will catch cold. Quote me,” he stressed.

The one time Minister of Agriculture contended that ‘we still believe, we can influence events in the North and to an extend the country.”

According to him, former Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule, was the convener of the two-day event, slated to begin tomorrow and will attract dignitaries such as the NEF chairman, Mallam Adamu Fika; Paul Unongo; former speaker, Ghali Na’aba; Dr Junaid Mohammed; Cardinal Onaiyekan; Sultan of Sokoto; Northern CAN chairman; Hajiya Naajatu Mohammed, among others.