From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna
Arewa Consultative Forum rose from its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Kaduna yesterday, expressing strong condemnation of the recent loss of lives in Bokkos and Uromi in Plateau and Edo States, respectively.
The Pan Northern cultural group also expressed worries over the resurgence of Boko Haram elements in the Borno axis.
In a statement preceding a closed-door meeting by NEC members, compromising retired military officers, past governors, ministers, and diplomats of Northern extraction, the Chairman of ACF, Mamman Mike Osuman, attributed the dire economic situation in the North to insecurity affecting some parts of the region.
He lamented that farmlands had been evacuated, schools closed down, and petty trades wound down, which he said has negatively impacted the quality of life and hampered the leverage of people in the region to compete favorably with their peers in other regions.
Osuman charged the recently constituted committee on the security of the ACF to expedite action to present to the forum the true picture of the situation across the region with a workable blueprint on how to tackle and reverse the ugly tide.
The forum also noticed with concern, utterances and media exposes related to 2027.
While acknowledging the right of individuals to vie for political or elected offices to serve the nation, the forum advised actors in the nation’s political space to soften rhetoric and rhetoric more on the task of nation-building.
Osuman stressed the need to place more emphasis on burning issues of governance that address the biting needs of the people daily subjugated to suffering as a result of brigandage, terrorism, hunger, mass murder, and kidnapping.
The forum, while announcing its intention to hold a grand event in commemoration of its 25th anniversary, pledged to be a beacon of hope to the people of the North and preach truth to power in the manner done by the likes of Mandela, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr.
Speaking to newsmen in an interview on the sidelines, Osuman said the ACF, which was founded to address issues concerning the North, has made its position known to the appropriate authorities and is following up, awaiting the outcome of their investigations.
He added: “Regarding the Edo/Uromi incident where over 14 persons (hunters) from northern extraction were killed.
“We are happy with the actions of the Governor who had promised to arrest those behind the acts and have agreed to pay reparation.”
Osuman added that the ACF is also looking at the boundary dispute between Enugu and Kogi states with the view of finding a lasting solution to the matter.
“The National Boundary Commission has been given the mandate to bring its surveyors to the area to determine the true state of the disputed land, he stated.”
“Even the Supreme Court has given Kogi State the disputed land. Only awaiting the completion of the work by the boundary commission”, be stated.
