Insecurity: Arewa Consultative Forum Laments, Says Banditry Hampering Progress |The Source

By Akinwale Kasali

The foremost Northern Group, the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, headed by former Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, is bemoaning the spate of insecurity in the region.

The ACF also laments the President Muhammadu Buhari government’s indifference to the plight of abducted Kaduna students, saying the rise of Kidnapping and Banditry has  put the North on the back seat,  and its  backwardness in development, unprecedented.

The Group is baffled by the devastating effect of banditry on the north, emphasising that the menace is sabotaging the growth and progress of the region.

For years, the North has been ravaged by a myriad of criminal activities and series of attacks. The result is thousands of deaths, kidnappings, accusations and counter accusations between the Military, Governors and the FG.

In a communique issued by the ACF at the end of its executive meeting in Kaduna, the forum said the activities of bandits, kidnappers and insurgents are a setback to the northern region.

Presided over Ogbeh, it  said that the activities of kidnappers and bandits have further worsened  Insecurity in recent times.

The Communique,  signed by Ogbeh and Emmanuel Yawe, the Spokesman of the ACF, saw the Group expressing its displeasure at the state of affairs in the north and in the country in general.

“The forum condemned the activities of insurgents, kidnappers and bandits in the north, saying that their activities are killing the peace and progress for which the north was noted for when the founders of the region were in power.

“The forum decried the utterances of some actors and leaders who have sought to inflame regional, ethnic, and religious passions out of the current situation in the country.

“The forum called on Nigerian leaders to exercise restraint in their utterances in the current circumstances.”

ACF said it was briefed by parents of the kidnapped students of Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna, who were abducted by suspected bandits in March, and it regretted that some of the kidnapped students remained in captivity, while the government had not done much to get them released.

ACF said it has agreed to take up their plight with the state and federal governments so that it can speed up the release of the students.