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Tag: ACF

  • Ex-militants to ACF: no peace for Atiku

    Ex-militants to ACF: no peace for Atiku

    •Post-convention dinner a waste of money, says Baraje

    Ex-militants in the Niger Delta have told the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) that there will be no peace for former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar until he leaves President Goodluck Jonathan alone.

    The former freedom fighters, led by ‘General’ Reuben Wilson, declared Atiku persona-non-grata in the Niger Delta, for being opposed to Jonathan’s re-election in 2015 and being behind the New Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Wilson, who is the leader of the Leadership, Peace and Cultural Development Initiative (LPCDI), spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt.

    The ex-militants said: “The ACF should warn the former vice-president (Atiku) to leave President Jonathan alone, so that he can concentrate on issues of governance.

    “As long as Atiku is not relenting in the fight to chase President Jonathan out of office in 2015, he will not know peace; neither will the security of his investments in the Niger Delta region.

    “The ACF leaders are a bundle of jokers, who are playing with fire. If the ACF members so like Atiku, let them advise him and other power-hungry northern elements to leave President Jonathan alone.

    “President Jonathan has been in office for just two years and they (ACF leaders) have done everything possible to make sure he does not concentrate on development issues. The ACF should not provoke us.

    “Where were they when their son, Muhammadu Buhari, promised hell for Jonathan? All this while that the Boko Haram warlords have been killing and maiming our people in the North, where was the ACF?

    “Why have they not called Kawu Baraje and Atiku to order? Why can’t they talk to their own children to leave President Jonathan alone?

    “The likes of Atiku may be working hard to divide this country. The ACF leaders may have closed their eyes to the devilish acts of their Boko Haram brothers. But this country will remain together and Dr. Jonathan will be re-elected in 2015.

    “Your Boko Haram people have not allowed President Jonathan to remain focused. Your northern brothers, who believe that the Presidency is their birthright, are doing all they can to distract him and they expect us to keep quiet. When the North held sway for over three decades, they had the support of the South.

    “If there are people that should be angry, it should be the former freedom fighters, who have not benefited from the Federal Government, especially as the lifeline which the late President Umaru Yar’Adua promised us before we decided to surrender our arms, has not been provided.

    “Jomo Gbomo is a pseudo name used by MEND fighters while in the creeks. We challenge him to come out publicly for people to see him.

    “Jomo Gbomo is not in existence as a human being and could not have spoken against our stance on the political developments in the country, especially on the decision to ban Atiku Abubakar from visiting any part of the Niger Delta.

    “Rather than continually insulting and condemning President Jonathan, the northern politicians should be bold enough to tell Nigerians what they consider to be the sins of the focused President.”

    The Abubakar Baraje-led faction of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has explained the absence of its members from the post-convention dinner of the party.

    A statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, said: “As a serious group, we cannot be a party to such squandermania while Nigerian masses are wallowing in abject poverty and our children kept at home instead of being in school because the Federal Government could not meet ASUU’s demands.

    “We wish to have nothing to do with such wasting of public funds and such trivialities associated with Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and his leadership – which explains why he must be kicked out of the National Secretariat of the party.

    “We cannot be a party to such a gathering while the PDP family is facing serious crisis that if not checked would dim the party’s chances of winning future elections.”

    He praised members of the faction from Bayelsa State.

    The statement warned the Bamanga Tukur-led faction of the PDP to stop threatening to suspend or expel “governors and members of the National Assembly who are indentifying with the true leadership of PDP under Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje”.

    Eze also condemned the abuses being heaped on former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar “just because he has decided to identify with our campaign for justice in the PDP of which he was a leading founding father and was instrumental to the payment of both the staff salaries of those working at the National Headquarters of the party and paid the rent for the National Secretariat in which some of these funny elements are currently operating from for three good years!”

    He said it was wrong for the Tukur group to call Governor Chibuike Amaechi of a traitor because he has been “standing firm to his rights and likewise most of our people that have stuck out their heads to restore the party to the path of honour and democratic tenants.”

     

     

     

     

  • ACF: split shows PDP can’t deliver on promises

    ACF: split shows PDP can’t deliver on promises

    The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) yesterday said the split in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) showed its inability to deliver on its promises to the people.

    ACF spokesman, Anthony Sani, in a text message to The Nation, said: “The split of PDP, which took place last Saturday, has been a source of concern in the sense that if the ruling party cannot provide order and direction to itself, many Nigerians would doubt the ruling party’s capacity to deliver on the promise of democracy.

    “You would note that the mandate to rule Nigeria includes not presiding over a divided people but is about bringing Nigerians together to enable them confront our collective challenges for public good.

    “Where the party shows its divisive tendencies openly, it becomes a source of concern. We pray the leaders would brace up and confront the current challenges before the politics of 2015 overwhelm them.”

  • Arewa to Boko Haram: Let’s give peace a chance

    Arewa to Boko Haram: Let’s give peace a chance

    The pan northern socio-political organization, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) on Tuesday asked those involved in violent activities in the country to embrace the offer of dialogue and give peace a chance in the overall interest of the country.

    Reacting to Monday’s explosion in Kano which claimed many lives, the ACF in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Anthony Sani ,said violence has never been the solution to perceived grievances anywhere in the world.

    While expressing shock over the explosion coming at a time when Muslims were observing the holy month of Ramadan, the forum said that such killings have no place in any religion and in any decent society.

    The statement reads: “the ACF is shocked and sad over the reports of four bomb explosions which killed and wounded many people on Monday in Kano.

    “The killing of innocent people had no place in all religions and in decent societies; and amounts to desecration of the month of Ramadan. They should, therefore, be condemned by all those who cherish core values of peaceful societies like freedom, justice and common decency.

    “It is still the considered opinion of ACF that violence can never resolve any perceived grievances, besides inflicting pains and self-immolation and destruction of innocent people.

    “Only constructive engagement can address concerns positively. Many examples abound across the world that support this contention. That is why ACF would not be tired of asking perpetrators of violence to avail themselves the offer of dialogue by the government for the good of all.

    “This is because there is no alternative to peaceful coexistence needed for the socio economic development of this large country that holds a lot of promises to generations to come. Let us give peace a chance.

    “Our heart goes to the government and people of Kano State, is with those who lost their loved ones, is with those who have been wounded and is with those who lost properties.”

     

  • 2015: North’s youths berate ACF, NEF over comment

    Northern youths, under the aegis of Northern Youths Network (NYN), yesterday disassociated themselves from comments credited to some leaders of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) seeking a return of power to the North in 2015.

    They said religion and other primordial sentiments, which northern elders whipped up in the past to sway the choices of the people during elections, must be discarded.

    NYN President, Mallam Alli Kano, in a statement in Abuja, with the Secretary, Auwalu Suleiman, said those speaking for the North on the 2015 Presidency had selfish reasons.

    The statement reads: “As a budding organisation, whose cardinal objective is to raise the level of consciousness of the average northerner, in a bid to compel a paradigm shift in the socio-economic and political affairs of Northern Nigeria in particular and the nation in general, we wish to state very clearly that ethnicity, religion and all the other primordial sentiments, which our elders have whipped up in the past to sway the choices of the people during election times must be hurriedly discarded as we prepare for the 2015 general elections. This is to ensure that credible and competent leaders will rule the nation and advance our democracy.

    “May we humbly ask: which age group constitutes the virile population of northern electorate? It is undoubtedly the youths! But have the elders considered it imperative to consult the youths with a view to harmonising positions in this pointless crave to return power to the North in 2015? No!

    “They just assume that as usual, they can set their selfish agenda and the youths, most of whom they have deliberately left impoverished, will fall in line automatically! But this time, they are in for a big surprise.

    “Experience has shown us that politics is not really a game of sentiments but of interest! Therefore, any leader who is capable of protecting and advancing the interest of the North would enjoy the support of the Northern youths.”

    The group said in the 52 years of the nation’s Independence, power at the centre has resided in the North for much longer than it has in the South.

    “But what do we have to show for it in the North?” the group asked. It added: “It is pervasive poverty, insecurity, hunger, disease, illiteracy and underdevelopment!

    “The egocentric and recycled politicians of Northern Nigeria have over the years used poverty and illiteracy as instruments of oppression to subject the majority of their fellow Northerners to be at their beck and call. Hence, they want the people to do their dirty biddings, people they do not really wish well…”

  • You can’t decide where I visit, Onoja tells ACF

    You can’t decide where I visit, Onoja tells ACF

    Former Military Administrator of Plateau State, General Lawrence Onoja (rtd) has taken a swipe at the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and advised it to stop chasing shadows.

    He said the group cannot decide for him where to visit and who to support. According to him, he has no regrets visiting President Goodluck Jonathan. He queried some ACF members who often visit the villa with their wives and asked: If they do not support the president why are they always doing in the villa with their wives?

    In a telephone interview with The Nation , General Onoja, who is a member of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) dismissed statements credited to the chairman of ACF Alhaji Aliko Mohammed that he and another member of the Pan northern organization visited the Villa to urged the president to run as nothing but selfish.

    ” My relationship with Arewa Consultative Forum is not a Master-Servant, so nobody has the right to tell me where to go or who to support. President Goodluck Jonathan is our elected president so it is my right as an individual to visit him or any group in the country , and there nothing any one can do about it” said Gen. Onoja .

    On allegation that he endorsed the President to run for a second term he said: “President Jonathan is a Nigerian and a minority like me, he has every right like any Nigerian to seek a second term in office, as enshrined in the constitution.”

    Gen. Onoja who is a card carrying member of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) warned ACF not to cause disaffection between him and the president.

    He said, “If they are fighting for a northern president, they should go ahead and fight for it, but should not use me as guinea pig.”

     

     

     

  • 2015: ACF ‘won’t back’ Jonathan for second term

    2015: ACF ‘won’t back’ Jonathan for second term

    The Arewa Consultative Forum has given indications that it will not back President Goodluck Jonathan for the 2015 presidential poll if he decides to seek re-election.

    The Chairman of the National Working Committee of the ACF, Alhaji Aliko Mohammed, gave the indications when he addressed the Annual General Meeting of the Forum at its secretariat in Kaduna on Thursday.

    He lamented that some of its members have gone ahead to encourage the president to seek re-election in 2015.

    Mohammed said that it was unfortunate that one of its members, Gen. Lawrence Onoja (rtd) and a member of the Northern Elders Forum, Senator John Washpam went to President Jonathan to ask him to contest the elections.

    He said the action of the two northern leaders has given an indication that the north were not united, adding that they met with the President in company of Chief Edwin Clark who has been campaigning for his (President Jonathan’s) re-election.

     

  • Single tenure has nothing good to offer – ACF

    The pan Northern socio- political organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), said on Tuesday that it was opposed to the six year single tenure for the president and governors as canvassed by the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, saying it has nothing positive to offer the nation.

    The National Publicity Secretary of the Forum, Anthony Sani, told The Nation that there is no incentive in the six year single tenure that can motivate people to give excellent performance since the “good, the not-so good and the feckless are put in the same bracket without any distinction.”

    He said that in management of human affairs, motivation is the instrument, adding that in single tenure, the only incentive would be the pillage of the state treasury.

    His words, “ACF is opposed to single tenure because it has no incentives that can motivate for excellent performance, since the good ,the not-so good and the feckless are put in the same bracket without any distinction.

    “And we all know that in management of human affairs, motivation is the instrument. In single tenure, the only incentive would be the pillage of the state treasury. And that is why most nations of the world, including Russia and China operate multiple tenure system.

    “As to the fear of abuse of incumbency, the National Assembly can consider the Chilean model which allows multiple tenure that would not be consecutive. That is to say, no president or governor would be allowed to conduct an election in which he or she is a candidate.”

     

  • Emergency rule: ACF to monitor military operations in ‘troubled states’

    The Arewa Consultative Forum on Thursday said it would constitute a team that would monitor the conduct of the military in enforcing the state of emergency declared in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States.

    The decision was contained in a statement issued by the ACF Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Fati Ibrahim, after the body’s National Executive Council meeting chaired by Alhaji Aliko Mohammed in Kaduna.

    “The team will collect information and evidence from the field and determine if at all times, the military campaign is conforming with the published terms of engagement and other human rights conventions to which Nigeria is signatory to,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted ACF as saying in the statement.

    “In particular, the ACF calls on the military to avoid the temptation of deploying heavy handed tactics or adopt measures that will cause increased casualties and bloodshed under the cover of emergency rule,” it added.

    The ACF advised the Federal Government not to consider “the increased military deployments as a superior option or alternative to the slower and more tedious path of dialogue, negotiation and reconciliation.”

     

  • APC: Northern leaders hold secret talks with Shekarau, others

    APC: Northern leaders hold secret talks with Shekarau, others

    Northern leaders are in talks with the newly formed All Progressive Congress (APC) on plan by the party to pick its presidential flag bearer for the 2015 election from the region.

    Several meetings have been held between northern stakeholders and key promoters of the APC to explore possible areas of co-operation ahead of the election.

    The Northern leaders are drawn mainly from the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), the Northern Union (NU) and others, according to sources familiar with the development.

    One of such discussions, a source said, took place recently at the Kano home of the immediate past former governor of Kano State and 2011 presidential candidate of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau.

    Shekarau is one of the promoters of the APC. He currently chairs the ANPP merger committee.

    The Nation learnt that some northern governors and prominent traditional rulers in the region are also involved in the talks aimed at securing an alternative platform to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for northern presidential aspirants ahead of 2015.

    It was gathered that the region’s power brokers are convinced that it will be difficult, if not impossible, for anyone to defeat President Goodluck Jonathan in the PDP national convention where the party’s presidential candidate will be picked. This informs the search for a virile alternative.

    The source said:”The North is still very determined in its quest to produce the President in 2015 not minding the ongoing attempt by some politicians to hoodwink the region. Efforts are ongoing and in fact lots of moves are being made to further position the region in good stead for the contest.

    “While we all know that the current level of insecurity is one of the political ploys to destabilise the region ahead of 2015, we are undeterred. Series of meetings are being held within and outside the region as part of efforts to prepare us for the next presidential election.

    “One thing is clear: we will not subsume our aspiration for anybody or group this time around. Nothing will stop the return of power to the North in 2015. Not even the ongoing criminal activities within the PDP denying us the party’s ticket in 2015.

    “We are aware of the plot to ‘dash’ Jonathan the presidential ticket once again. This time, we are looking beyond the PDP. Lots of talks are ongoing with other political groups. Our leaders across various organisations within the North are meeting with other stakeholders to find an alternative platform should Jonathan succeed in pushing us out of PDP.

    “Just recently, our leaders met with Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau of the ANPP. The meeting discussed the possibility of a working arrangement between the region and his political group.

    “Far-reaching decisions are to be taken soon and at the end of it all, the bottom line will be that the North is better positioned to stake a serious claim for the Presidency in 2015.”

    The Nation also learnt that some prominent traditional rulers recently made their position on the 2015 presidential election known to stakeholders during a parley to discuss the state of the region.

    The source added:”Some prominent traditional rulers largely made up of first class emirs and Chiefs in the region, recently told stakeholders that they are solidly behind the move for a northern President come 2015.

    “When the issue of 2015 propped up, the body of emirs said they are in support of the stakeholders’ call for a northern president in 2015.”

  • ACF ENDORSE PROBE OF BAGA KILLINGS

    ACF ENDORSE PROBE OF BAGA KILLINGS

    The northern social political organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, yesterday endorsed a probe of the killings in Baga community of Borno state, saying that the incident coming at a time when the nation was looking forward to an amicable resolution of the insecurity in the land was unfortunate.

    In a communique at the end of its meeting in Kaduna, the forum said that aa thorough investigation should be carried out and those found guilty prosecuted to serve as a deterrent for others.

    The communique which was signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Anthony Sani also welcome the coming together of the form and the Northern Elders Forum to try and find lasting solution to the insecurity in the land.

    The statement reads “The meetings were well attended by members and chaired by the NEC Chairman in the person of Alhaji Aliko M. Mohammed, Dan Iyan Misau. General J.T Useni chaired that of BOT. Many issues of national importance with direct bearing on the North were discussed; and it was resolved that the following statement be issued

    “The Forum noted with shock the reports of violence between the JTF and the sect which destroyed many lives and properties in Baga village in Borno State. Severe shock in the sense that apart from such monumental losses, the violence has come at a time when the talks of amnesty leading to constructive dialogue is expected to inform cessation of hostilities and take advantage of the efforts being made to bring an end to the untold hardship brought about by destruction of lives and properties.

     

    “And given different accounts of the same circumstance of such violent destruction, Arewa Consultative Forum endorsed thorough investigations by the authority of what happened with a view to unveiling the facts needed for retribution to offenders as deterrent against future occurrence.

    “To that end, both the government and the governed must avoid generalizations that are not well informed by hard facts. Nigerians and the media must be wary of half truths, lest they worsen the already dire and complex situation in demand of highest level of imagination, commitment and determination that often come with patriotic courage and political will.

    “The meetings also considered the circumstances of withdrawals from the Amnesty Committee by some members; and resolved that even though consultations ought to precede announcements of names of members in view of the dire nature of the assignment, that should not make some members reject their membership of the Amnesty Committee.

    “The Forum, therefore, called on such members to reconsider their decisions in overriding interest of the North, the nation and for humanity. This is because no sacrifice is too much to bring about peace across the nation. It is no time for blame game but for consciously directed collective efforts needed to make insecurity history.

    “The Forum welcomed the consideration and coming together of the various Northern platforms, especially of ACF and Northern Elders Forum, for the express purpose of unleashing their synergy through confronting the collective challenges facing the North and the country as a whole. This is more so that most members of the different groups are still members of Arewa consultative Forum in pursuit of the same aims and objectives”.