Boko Haram: ACF slams Gowon, Shagari, IBB, others •Northern elders tackle ACF over comments on Jonathan’s achievements
APPARENTLY piqued by the alleged silence of former heads of state of northern extraction over the worsening insecurity situation in parts of the North, occasioned by the Boko Haram insurgents, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), on Monday, said General Yakubu Gowon, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, General Muhammadu Buhari, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida and General Abdulsalami Abubakar should recognise that they were underutilised assets.
The forum said the Northerners expected their inputs in influencing events surrounding security of the region and its economic well-being.
ACF, in a communiqué signed by Colonel John Ubah (retd) and Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, issued at the end of a one-day meeting of northern groups with ACF, also requested the president of the Senate, speaker of the House of Representatives and all legislators from the North to note that northerners expected them to exercise greater commitment towards ensuring that President Goodluck Jonathan’s government was made more accountable to northerners and Nigerians, in the manner it handled national security and management of the nation’s resources.
The forum expressed disappointment over performance of some governors from the region, pointing out that the governors had left the security and welfare of the people in the North to political jobbers.
It said in the next few weeks, joint committees would approach the governors and involve them in mobilising citizens toward supporting all measures to improve security in the North and would inform northerners of responses of all their elected leaders.
ACF rejected the recent allocation of additional polling units by INEC, which deliberately conferred undeserved advantages on states in the South.
“The creation of additional polling units should be revisited, using standard criteria INEC is aware of. “Attempts to blackmail and stampede INEC into abandoning its hallowed responsibilities to do justice to all Nigerians or sacrifice the rights of Northern voters are hereby condemned.
“The North expects INEC to reallocate the polling units in strict compliance with its standard guidelines without fear or favour,” it said.
ACF resolved to mobilise its northern leaders to engage leaders from other parts of the country in discussions and activities aimed at finding solutions to common problems and longterm strategies for improving the nation’s security, unity and prosperity.
It said that the North recognised the necessity of collaborating with all other Nigerians, including those living abroad, on the basis of mutual respect and knowledge that Nigeria can only overcome its current challenges if all stakeholders were genuinely involved in shaping its future.
In a related development, the Alhaji Tanko Yakasai-led Northern Elders’ Council (NEC), on Monday, berated the Alhaji Ibrahim Commasie-led ACF over the statement credited to it that the administration of President Jonathan had failed the nation.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, on Monday, chairman of NEC, Alhaji Yakasai, dissociated the Northern elders from the position of the ACF and accused it of working for the opposition, which he said negated the mission and vision of the founding fathers of the forum.
According to the elder statesman, “we wish to observe that since the emergence of the current leadership of the ACF, there has been a derailment and non-compliance with the mission and vision of the founding fathers of the forum.
While dissociating from the position of the ACF on the achievements of President Jonathan, he said “NEC regrets totally the way and manner ACF chairman addressed the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr Jonathan, in his recent press conference. To say that “President Jonathan doesn’t like the North” is outrageous and uncharitable and to say that he has failed, is untrue.”
The forum said the Northerners expected their inputs in influencing events surrounding security of the region and its economic well-being.
ACF, in a communiqué signed by Colonel John Ubah (retd) and Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, issued at the end of a one-day meeting of northern groups with ACF, also requested the president of the Senate, speaker of the House of Representatives and all legislators from the North to note that northerners expected them to exercise greater commitment towards ensuring that President Goodluck Jonathan’s government was made more accountable to northerners and Nigerians, in the manner it handled national security and management of the nation’s resources.
The forum expressed disappointment over performance of some governors from the region, pointing out that the governors had left the security and welfare of the people in the North to political jobbers.
It said in the next few weeks, joint committees would approach the governors and involve them in mobilising citizens toward supporting all measures to improve security in the North and would inform northerners of responses of all their elected leaders.
ACF rejected the recent allocation of additional polling units by INEC, which deliberately conferred undeserved advantages on states in the South.
“The creation of additional polling units should be revisited, using standard criteria INEC is aware of. “Attempts to blackmail and stampede INEC into abandoning its hallowed responsibilities to do justice to all Nigerians or sacrifice the rights of Northern voters are hereby condemned.
“The North expects INEC to reallocate the polling units in strict compliance with its standard guidelines without fear or favour,” it said.
ACF resolved to mobilise its northern leaders to engage leaders from other parts of the country in discussions and activities aimed at finding solutions to common problems and longterm strategies for improving the nation’s security, unity and prosperity.
It said that the North recognised the necessity of collaborating with all other Nigerians, including those living abroad, on the basis of mutual respect and knowledge that Nigeria can only overcome its current challenges if all stakeholders were genuinely involved in shaping its future.
In a related development, the Alhaji Tanko Yakasai-led Northern Elders’ Council (NEC), on Monday, berated the Alhaji Ibrahim Commasie-led ACF over the statement credited to it that the administration of President Jonathan had failed the nation.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, on Monday, chairman of NEC, Alhaji Yakasai, dissociated the Northern elders from the position of the ACF and accused it of working for the opposition, which he said negated the mission and vision of the founding fathers of the forum.
According to the elder statesman, “we wish to observe that since the emergence of the current leadership of the ACF, there has been a derailment and non-compliance with the mission and vision of the founding fathers of the forum.
While dissociating from the position of the ACF on the achievements of President Jonathan, he said “NEC regrets totally the way and manner ACF chairman addressed the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr Jonathan, in his recent press conference. To say that “President Jonathan doesn’t like the North” is outrageous and uncharitable and to say that he has failed, is untrue.”
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