Tag: ACF

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) said yesterday that northerners hoping to use the organisation for their political ambitions should begin to do their homework.

Secretary-General of the organisation and former Kebbi State Military Administrator Col. John Paul Ubah (rtd) said the ACF was a non-partisan group.

He spoke when the Idoma National Forum visited the ACF secretariat in Kaduna.

His words: “ACF is apolitical; we don’t want to be partisan.

“Anybody who joins the ACF thinking that he can use it as a platform to gain  political ticket will be disappointed.

“The ACF is meant for all northerners. It speaks for the wellbeing of the North on social, cultural, political and economic activities.

“We encourage parties and politicians to do things that will cater for the wellbeing of the North, without coming out to say we support any party.

“You can see that the position I am occupying is not a political appointment. So with this, don’t expect much from me.

“At the same time the position is so crucial, so you have a duty to pray for me so that during my time ACF works hard towards achieving the vision of our founding fathers.”

He warned the public against people who drop the name of the organisation to curry favour and extort money, saying “we don’t have youth wing or women wing; we encourage everyone to team up with us here”.

 

The pan-Northern socio-political organisation, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), criticised yesterday the government’s handling of the Boko Haram insurgency and the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls, saying the President’s response suggested a hidden agenda against the North.

The northern umbrella body also lampooned First Lady, Patience Jonathan for conducting what it called a mock trial of government officials on national television.

In a statement entitled “Insecurity and government Ineptitude”, signed by the Secretary General, Col. John Paul Ubah (rtd), the ACF said it was disappointed by the government’s handling of the Chibok’s girls’ abduction and the insurgency.

The ACF noted that the President displayed lack of urgency in the handling of the issue, until Nigerians poured onto the streets to demand action. The First Lady, said the ACF, attempted to disrupt efforts by to free the abducted girls, claiming that no girls were missing.

The statement reads: “The Rapid Response Committee of the ACF met on Wednesday, the 14th of May, 2014 at the Forum’s Headquarters, Kaduna. The meeting reviewed the current state of insecurity in the country and resolved to issue the following press statement.

“That the response of the Federal Government, particularly President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Dame Patience Jonathan, to the abduction of over 200 students by Boko Haram from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno on the 14th of April, 2014, is disappointing.

“The President approached the abduction with neither a sense of urgency nor seriousness until ordinary Nigerians poured out on to the streets demanding greater action. The first lady remained characteristically disruptive of all efforts by concerned Nigerians.

“Her reaction to the street protests was to set up her own panel of inquiry to which she summoned federal and state government officials, including wives of governors. She conducted a mock trial of the officials on live television and at the end of it, declared that no school girls were missing, suggesting that the entire story was some hoax constructed to embarrass her husband.

“The approach of the President to the tragic abductions of the Chibok girls is not much different from his handling of the entire insurgency war that has engulfed the North, especially the Northeast region since 2009. Even the President’s most ardent supporters readily agree that his prosecution of the insurgency war has been hesitant, feeble and half-hearted.

“The President hardly ever took action until he came under pressure to do so from people outside his government. The mounting pressure from local and international communities is now compelling him to talk of deploying more troops to confront the Boko Haram insurgents. His belated acceptance of help from foreign powers had come only after the abduction of over 200 young girls, stirring worldwide outrage.

“Under the circumstances, it is not difficult to understand why people ask in frustration, why the President acts the way he does. Is it the result of inexperience, poor advice or, as some observers say, certain hidden agenda against a section of the country?

“Whatever is the reason, the people of Nigeria have a right to demand from their President to execute the duties of his office without fear or favour – in accordance with the oath of office to which he had sworn. As it is, President Goodluck Jonathan stands in violation of that oath.”

The Forum warned against extending the state of emergency imposed on three states of the northeast – Borno, Yobe and Adamawa – stressing that casualty figures since the introduction has sky-rocketed rather than reduce.

The ACF went on: “We caution that the request before the National Assembly to approve the extension of the year-long state of emergency declared in the Northeast states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa be considered against its impact so far, which can only be described as disastrous. Before the State of Emergency was declared in the three states, between 2009 and 2012, the total causalities of the insurgency were less than 1,500.

“But this figure sky-rocketed to over 2,700 during the one year of the emergency, according to figures released by Amnesty International. During the emergency rule, Boko Haram had attacked and destroyed large swathe of areas in the Northeast, including 18 towns and cities, not counting schools, mosques and churches.

“It is not clear to the public why the violence has been escalating since the imposition of the state of emergency on those three states. If we counsel against the continuation of the emergency rule, we are only being guided by our ugly experiences thus far.

“And, at any rate, the Federal Government does not need to declare a state of emergency before it can discharge its responsibility of maintaining law and order. Otherwise, it may need to declare a state of emergency on the whole country at this time, given the state of lawlessness going on in the North, South, West and East regions of the country.

“It remains to be added that a majority of Nigerians, Muslims and Christians, accept that the Boko Haram insurgency is a fight against the whole country without regard to religion or ethnicity. However, there is a small vocal minority who erroneously claim otherwise.

“It is on record that almost all locations attacked by Boko Haram are populated by mostly Muslims who are invariably the main victims. We should never forget that Boko Haram will be over-joyed to discover that their activities are causing suspicion, animosity and even conflict among Muslims and Christians in the country. We must deny them that victory.

“The government has earlier announced that it is considering all options available in rescuing the abducted Chibok girls. That includes, presumably, the Boko Haram’s offer to release the girls in exchange for the release of their own members in detention. It is imperative that the government exercises caution in handling these options. It has to be stressed that the safety and freedom of these hapless girls must be the overriding consideration.”

The North’s delegates to the ongoing National Conference circulated yesterday their position paper.

The 47-page document marked “Key issues before the Northern delegates to the 2014 National Conference” also has a sub-title: “Northern Nigeria the back bone and strength of Nigeria”.

It was articulated by a think tank constituted by Northern Governors, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation.

The position paper, which was described as “highly provocative” by some Southern delegates, detailed the position and demands of the North from the Conference.

It specifically asked northern delegates to reject all claims to oil resources by oil producing areas which the document claimed led to the cancellation of the onshore/offshore oil dichotomy.

It said that abrogation of onshore/offshore oil dichotomy gave away a national resource to littoral states, “seriously eroding revenue available for distribution to all parts of the country”.

“The North demands a reversal to status quo ante. All mineral resources should remain under the exclusive rights of the Federal Government as provided for by the International law (1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea UNCLOS, Article 76 on territorial waters/boundaries which stipulated that 200 nautical miles off the continental shelves belongs to the central government exclusively,” it said.

It said that the Federal Government since 1999 had taken steps which negated the principles of justice and equity to the federating units, clearly threatening the balance development of the country for the common good of all.

“For example, the revenue received by the six states of the Southsouth from the Federal allocation from 1999 to date amounted to N17. 74 trillion (each of the six states received on average N2.96 trillion), while the 19 states of the North received only N10.53 trillion (an average of only N554 billion per state).

“On the other hand, the 11 states of the Southwest and Southeast combined, received N8.79 trillion (an average of N799 billion per state), it said.

The document said that derivation, which is now at 13 per cent, should be reduced to at best five per cent and must be limited only to oil on the onshore.

“The North demands a new revenue sharing formula, which seeks to empower the strata of government closer to the people than the centre, that is, the states, and the local governments to be able to deliver on their governance responsibilities to the people.

“The formula is also to ensure a strong enough Federal Government for the security of the country and give the country the stability of direction and focus on human and economic development.

“Here, we recommend a vertical revenue sharing formula as follows: Federal Government 26 %; states 39%, Local Governments Areas 35%.

“Also we recommend a horizontal revenue sharing formula for the states and local governments areas as follows: equality 35%; population 30%; population density 2%; land mass 20%; terrain 5%; internal revenue generation effort 5%; and social development factor 3%.

“The North rejects the frequent assertions by the South on the population figures of the North and states clearly that the rate of population growth attributed to the North over the years is extremely understated.

“The North recommends that all institutions and programmes established for the benefit of a few states be abolished. These include the Niger Delta Development Commission, the Ministry of Niger Delta and the Amnesty programme for the Niger Delta militants and component C of the SURE-P, the HYPADEC,” it said.

The document said that the fervent increase in agitation for total resource control that overemphasised revenue from oil minerals producing states (the Niger Delta) is a complete over hyping of the contribution of oil to keeping the country together.

“This is needless to say that the agitation is a complete negation of the tenets of a brothers’ keeper of a federal system of government which Nigeria had decided to practise long time ago.”

The document said that the Constitution gave the ownership of all minerals resources found in any part of the country to the Federal Government.

According to the document, the history of revenue sharing among the regions and the centre was 50:50, but limited to revenue derived from activities that involved human effort.

“All mineral resources belonged to the centre; this new adventure on resource control is totally new concept and alien to the practice in Nigeria,” it said.

The document said that the funding of the civil war was entirely done by the North at a great sacrifice to its wellbeing, at the expense of investment in human and economic development of the entire region.

The North, it said, sold forward all its groundnut and cotton for some years, risking forward delivery contract of three years for all its agricultural products to prosecute the civil war.

It said that the National Conference “tended to be gimmick” used by past and present presidents to push through certain agenda that they fear cannot possibly pass through the National Assembly.

“The unmistakable conclusion to be drawn from the history of these exercises is that the 2014 National Conference, like its 2005 predecessor, is intended to permit Mr. President to take certain actions and decisions which are not allowed without changing the Constitution and which the National Assembly may not otherwise endorse,” the document stated, adding:

“Of course, the president won’t tell anyone in advance what the hidden agenda are with respect to the Conference. On this score, the tell-tale signs of his secret ambitions are unmistakable.”

It said that President Goodluck Jonathan’s supporters have missed no opportunity to remind everyone that he is the first democratically elected president of Nigeria who is both from an ethnic minority and the oil rich Niger Delta.

“Both facts are pregnant with significance for what he might want to do, particularly in the light of the endless agitation by people from that part of the country to confiscate all revenue accruing from oil exploitation for themselves alone,” it said.

The Northern socio-political organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has said Monday morning explosion at the Nyanya motor park in Abuja was a national calamity and a disservice to humanity.

In a statement by its National Publicity, Mohammed Ibrahim, the ACF said the security situation in the country had made the people to become hopeless and helpless.

It has also crippled the socio-economic activities of the region, ACF said.

The statement reads: “The bomb blast in Nyanya town, on the outskirts of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), on Monday morning, which killed over 70 innocent people and injured many, was a national calamity, a disservice to humanity and a great shock to the nation.

“In the last six years, Nigeria has experienced many cases of security challenges, such as bomb blasts, insurgencies and gun attacks, communal and religious clashes, which have culminated in huge loss of lives and destruction of property worth millions of Naira.

“The present insecurity in the country, especially in the North, has placed our people in a state of hopelessness and helplessness and crippled the socio-economic activities of the region.