About two weeks after threatening to raise an army against the killer herdsmen in Benue State, elder statesman and Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Dr. Paul Unongo has stepped down.
He resigned yesterday at an emergency meeting of the Forum in Abuja.
Unongo, who succeeded the late former Nigeria’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Maitama Sule, last year as Convener of the elite Northern group, convened the emergency meeting where he informed members of the Forum of his decision to step aside.
Speaking with newsmen after his resignation, Unongo said he stepped down on his own volition so as to give way for a new leader who will ensure dutiful implementation of the suggestions he had made as well as help move the forum forward.
“I opted to step down because of my conviction that the time has come for the NEF to produce the type of leaders that will implement some suggestions we have made. My stepping down will also afford me the opportunity to concentrate fully on other things that will further move the country forward”, Unongo said.
He told newsmen that the forum accepted his decision to step aside and even gave him the choice of selecting a successor.
“But I gave them the freedom to choose whoever they want and I will give the person my full support”, he noted.
Confirming the development in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, NEF said it accepted Unongo’s resignation reluctantly, even as it approved that the deputy Convener, Alhaji Sani Zangon Daura, should hold forth in the interim until a new Convener is appointed. (Daily Post)