“Anybody that tells you that the North is not grumbling now is not telling the truth,” Ndume said. “In the North, northern elders have been reaching out. I was part of the first and the last meeting with Mr President when northern elders went to him,” he said. While absolving Tinubu of direct blame, Ndume argued that the President’s problems stem largely from the calibre of people around him. “The President had good people around him when he was governor of Lagos; that was why he succeeded,” Ndume said.