From Mustapha Saye, Kaduna
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has called on the Federal Government, under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to do whatever it takes to end the insecurity bedevilling the Northern region with immediate effect.
This was contained in a communiqué read by the National Publicity Secretary of ACF, Professor Muhammad Tukur Baba, at the end of the Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting with Northern Leaders in Kaduna on Wednesday.
According to the communiqué, “A special meeting of elders and top-level leaders from all parts of Northern Nigeria, held on Wednesday, 4th of September, 2024, at the headquarters of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF.
“It was presided over by Alhaji Bashir Mohammed Dalhatu, Wazirin Dutse, and Chairman, the Board of Trustees of the Arewa Consultative Forum. In attendance were many former state governors of the northern states, ministers, service chiefs, members of the National Assembly, retired senior public officers, academics, professionals, and multitudes of patriotic citizens.
“The meeting was called in response to and against the background of the ever-increasing crisis of insecurity, skyrocketing cost of living, destitution, unemployment, and other calamities plaguing Nigeria in general and Northern Nigeria in particular.
“After long and extensive deliberations on these issues and others listed on its agenda, the meeting agreed that at the moment, nothing is troubling Northern Nigeria more than the lack of security of lives and property. The North is today ravaged by elevated forms of banditry, Boko Haram, and other insurgencies.”
It said that whatever it takes, the security crisis in Northern Nigeria must end, and end quickly. Our survival depends on it!
It observed that the current approaches to fighting the insurgents and bandits are not yielding the desired results, saying other measures, even unconventional ones, need to be considered and tried.
To this end, it remarked that “Nigeria is indeed facing a moral crisis for failing to protect its citizens who cannot bear arms but are left at the mercy of well-armed, cruel, and bloodthirsty renegades and barbarians that continue to have free access to deadly arms. This is a matter that requires very urgent thought and review
The communique also posited that “community-driven models of defence, such as the Civilian JTF, are already in operation in several parts of the country, including in the Boko-Haram-ravaged northeast of Nigeria. Similar or modified models of security management should be authorised in other parts of the country.
On the cost of living, ACF noted that the unprecedented cost of living is driven by severe food shortages and especially the continuously rising prices of electricity and fuel energy, and this, in turn,, has compounded the challenges of insecurity and violent crimes.
“The meeting identified corruption at all levels to be the key driver of bad governance in Nigeria. It also agreed that bad governance is the root cause of most of the social and economic crises plaguing the country, including distortion of moral values, nepotism, injustice, misplacement of priorities, etc.
“ACF, therefore, called on the authorities to wage an all-out war against corruption without further delay,” the statement added.
The meeting also resolved that Northerners should do more to build trust and affection between and amongst themselves.
Accordingly, Northerners belonging to different tribes or religious groups are enjoined to completely refrain from calling each other derogatory or offensive names, such as ‘arne’ and’mushirkin’.
