Not sure what is going on. This is a fresh install of Ubuntu 16.04.
This is the issue now. I am tying to run this now from the SSH interface
ubuntu@ubuntu1604:~/RUTX_R/openwrt-gpl-ipq40xx-generic.Linux-x86_64$ sudo make menuconf -j1 V=s
WARNING: Makefile 'package/configdb/Makefile' has a build dependency on 'common', which does not exist
WARNING: Makefile 'package/diag/Makefile' has a build dependency on 'common', which does not exist
WARNING: Makefile 'package/dsutils/Makefile' has a build dependency on 'common', which does not exist
WARNING: Makefile 'package/mcm-core/Makefile' has a build dependency on 'common', which does not exist
WARNING: Makefile 'package/qmi-client-helper/Makefile' has a build dependency on 'common', which does not exist
WARNING: Makefile 'package/qmuxd/Makefile' has a build dependency on 'common', which does not exist
WARNING: Makefile 'package/xmllib/Makefile' has a build dependency on 'common', which does not exist
make[1]: Entering directory '/home/ubuntu/RUTX_R/openwrt-gpl-ipq40xx-generic.Linux-x86_64'
make[1]: *** No rule to make target 'menuconf'. Stop.
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/ubuntu/RUTX_R/openwrt-gpl-ipq40xx-generic.Linux-x86_64'
/home/ubuntu/RUTX_R/openwrt-gpl-ipq40xx-generic.Linux-x86_64/include/toplevel.mk:229: recipe for target 'menuconf' failed
make: *** [menuconf] Error 2
ubuntu@ubuntu1604:~/RUTX_R/openwrt-gpl-ipq40xx-generic.Linux-x86_64$
This is following removing the files that you previously mentioned.