Members of the Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) yesterday urged the president-elect , General Muhammadu Buihari, to rise above partisan politics, religion and ethnicity and be fair to all Nigerians irrespective of their affiliations.

Leader of the Forum and former Nigeria’s representative to the United Nations, Alhaji Matama Sule, stated this yesterday in Abuja when the forum paid a courtesy visit to General Buhari at the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign headquarters in, Abuja.

While eulogizing Buhari as a man who made his mark as a former military head of state, Maitama Sule said: “You’re the president of Nigeria; you are not the president of northern Nigeria, by the grace of God. Your Excellency, we have come to congratulate you. We first of all thank God: what happened recently to Nigeria is an act of God; nobody can claim credit for it. Allah has done it for us; Allah has listened to our prayers and our pleas and brought about this change, a change for the betterment of all.”

According to him, nobody expected that the elections will be peaceful, and nobody expected that the elections will not lead to the disintegration of the country.

“By the grace of God, the elections were held peacefully. We are living in peace with one another and, by the grace of God, power will also be handed over to you ‎(Buhari) and we’ll be living peaceful thereafter, by the grace of God.

Maitama Sule recalled that he had, on many occasions, called for a revolution but that he wanted a peaceful one.

“I made it quite clear that I was not calling for a violent or bloody revolution. I wanted the kind of revolution led by Mahatma Gandhi, a non-violent bloodless revolution with the philosophy of Sathia Gria.

“A revolution is a change of attitude, glory be to God for having listened to our prayers; he gave us somebody who has a good record of being a man of God, a truthful man, a man of integrity, a man of discipline. Yes, you (Buhari) were a military man.

“I’ve always said it that when you were a military leader, you instilled discipline into our society. You fought corruption and you gave Nigeria a sense of direction. I am sure you will not compromise your principles but you’ll bring justice, wisdom and diplomacy. If it be the same Buhari that gave the country a sense of direction when he was a military leader, this time around, I am sure, Allah will be with you to correct the ills of the past.”

He further assured Buhari of their support.

“All we have to do is to pray for him that Allah will give him the courage and knowledge to carry out his responsibility and may Allah give him advisers that will advise him to take right decisions at all time. We have to pray for him because we know how difficult Nigeria is, especially in recent years. I keep saying Nigeria is a very difficult country to rule.”

He also advised the president-elect to treat every section of the country with fairness if he wanted to succeed.

“With justice, you can rule Nigeria well. Justice is the key; irrespective of tribes, religion and race, justice must be done to whosoever deserve it. Power can remain in the hands of an infidel if he’s just and fair but it will not remain in the hands of a believer if he’s unfair and unjust. Behind every crisis anywhere in the world is injustice, and the solution to that is justice.”. I have always known you to be a man of justice and I ask you to please continue; don’t change or compromise justice for anything. May Allah Help you.

“Mr President-elect, sir, we know what we have gone through. I will ask you not to discriminate against any part of Nigeria but I’ll urge you to do justice to all parts of Nigeria. Justice will bring about peace and stability that’ll lead to the development of Nigeria,” he said.

In his response, General Buhari thanked them for their visit and assured them that his government would not discriminate against any part of the country.

Buhari: “We all know that whatever you do, without justice it will not endure. It is as simple as that. As a human being, we keep repeating the same mistake over and over again. But that is what makes us human”.

Among northern elders in the delegation include Senator Joseph Waku, former minister Paul Unogo, former secretary to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Dr Baba Hakim Ahmed, Engineer Bello Suleiman and former chief of army staff General Abdulrahman Danbazzau.