The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Arewa

  • Arewa screens candidates for NBA president, others

    Arewa screens candidates for NBA president, others

    Ahead of next July’s Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) election, the Arewa Lawyers Forum (ALF) has begun the screening of candidates.

    The  offices of the President and First Vice-President have been zoned to the North in line with NBA’s amended constitution, which was ratified at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) last August.

    At a meeting held at the Bauchi State Government House, the group considered  letters of intent members.

    Those who indicated interest are: Chief Joseph-Kyari Gadzama (SAN) and A. B. Mahmoud (SAN) for President; Caleb Dajan and Ibrahim Aliyu Nasarawa for the office of the First Vice-President; Dr. Dauda Benedicta for Treasurer; Joshua B. Usman for the office of Welfare Secretary;  T. T.Igba for Welfare Secretary and R. O. Balogun for the office of National Legal Adviser

    After due consideration of the letters of intent, the forum agreed to “extend time for the filing of letters of intent to enable members, who had not received the text massages, but wish to contest the election to file in their letters of intent within the next two weeks so that nobody is left behind in the election.”

    The forum agreed to set up a seven-member committee to determine the candidates’ eligibility.

    Chairman of the Forum, Bauchi State Governor Mohammed A. Abubakar, promised to convene another meeting as soon as he receives the committee’s report.

    This, in his view, would enable the forum to adopt the  candidates they will present to other fora for the election.

    Abubakar said: “We will look at the report and see how best we can assist our members and see if there are other positions they can vie for or at most step down their ambitions.

    “In the last election, we lost a very critical office by presenting two candidates for the same office.

    “If you add the votes two of them scored in that election, then you will see that we would have won that election if we had presented one candidate from ALF

    “Therefore, we are extending the submission of letters of intent by two weeks. After two weeks, the committee will settle down for work and whenever I receive a signal from them, that they have finished their work, I will call for another meeting of ALF in Bauchi.“

    The seven-member committee has the Vice chairman of ALF Mr. Garba Pwul (SAN) as chairman and Mr. Lukas  Haruna as secretary. The committee has two members from each of the three geo-political zones in the North.

    In the course of the  meeting, former NBA Jos branch chairman Mr. Caleb Dajan stepped down from contesting for the office of first Vice -President.

    He said: “Though I had contested for this office once, I am stepping down my ambition now to give Mr. Ibrahim Nassarawa the opportunity to contest, this is  to maintain peace and unity in ALF.”

    The chairman praised him for the sacrifice and urged other contestants to cultivate such spirit.

    Chairman of Lafia branch, Mr O. G. Akakaa urged ALF members to pray for his branch, which lost three lawyers in one month.

    The deceased lawyers are Justina Ani, Innocent Adole and  Kenneth Ogeni, who relocated to Lafia from Maiduguri where he was practicing because of Boko Haram insurgency and died last month.

    It was also reported at the meeting that Kaduna Branch lost two members, namely Charles Mafua and Isa Alabara.

    Gadzama praised the forum for the quality of its leadership.

    “ALF has the best quality of leadership amongst the three fora of the NBA because it is the only forum that has a sitting state governor as chairman, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria as Vice chairman and a sitting state Attorney-General as Secretary, though the Eastern Bar Forum (EBF) is the forum to beat in terms of organisation, focus, unity and vision.

    “If at the end of the day, this forum asks me not to contest for the Presidency of the Bar, I will not contest. If the committee says No, J.K is not qualified I will not contest.”

    Mahmud praised the governor for his leadership qualities and urged the forum to do its best at all times.

    The chairman thanked members for their confidence in his leadership and assured that he would always be  fair, transparent, credible and provide a level playing field for all to get the best from NBA.

     

  • Arewa youths back Saraki for Senate Presidency

    Northern youths under the aegis of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) have thrown their weight behind Senator Bukola Saraki’s bid for the Senate President.

    Its President, Alhaji Shettima Yerima, said: “Saraki’s leadership traits make him eminently qualified to lead the Upper Legislative Chamber and deliver democratic good to the Nigerian citizens”.

    He added: “We admitted that in both the Senate and House of Representatives, we have vibrant and amiable personalities bubbling with energy to embark on duty to turn around Nigeria for the better. In this vein, I would want to digress and go personal to call on personalities such as Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki, to avail himself to provide leadership in the Senate. This call has become imperative when we look at track records and capacity to deliver which leaves no one in doubt about his capability and competence.”

    According to Yerima, the incoming administration must hire capable hands to help translate the resolve of and determination of the humble General, Muhammadu Buhari to bring about the much desired and anticipated change in all ramifications.

    He added: “We wish to call on committed patriots and genuine lovers of our nation to present themselves for leadership positions in both the Senate and House of Representatives.  As we all know, the legislature plays a vital and significant role in a democracy, it is indeed a citadel. That is why we must do everything possible to ensure that we have not only capable hands but those that can deliver.”

    While noting that Nigerians were full of desire for the government to deliver the much anticipated change in a short time possible, Yerima said, “what is on ground clearly shows that Nigerians must give time, exercise some patience or even moderate the high expectations because we are sure people are aware of the level of decay and rot in the system.”

    This, Yerima said, “it may require utmost circumspection and careful approach to issues which will obviously require time, patience and understanding.”

  • Arewa chieftain applauds Aregbesola

    The leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) members among the Arewa Community in the South West, Alhaji Hassan Isiaka has applauded Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola over the victory of the party in the zone in the just-concluded general elections.

    In astatement made available to journalists in Ibadan on Monday, the Arewa leader acknowledged “the singular efforts of the APC Presidential Campaign team in the South West, headed by Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola which did wonderfully well in the zone.

    “Aregbesola as a reliable team leader is an enigma when it comes to the management of human and material resources as put into practice at the APC campaigns that resulted in grand success at the polls, not only in the South West but all over the nation,” he stated.

    Alhaji  Isiaka specifically acknowledged “Ogbeni Aregbesola’s efforts in judiciously managing the scarce resources available from the Buhari Campaign Organisation at a time when the opposition had laid siege on the nooks and crannies of the zone with ‘Ghana must Go’, in their erroneous belief that the voters could be grabbed with money.”

     

  • Nigeria in dire need of credible leadership, says ACF

    As Nigerians mark the 54th independence anniversary tomorrow, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has said the country is in dire need of credible leadership to navigate it out of its current quagmire.

    ACF, in its independence message made available to reporters in Kaduna yesterday, said Nigeria has the potential to be one of the biggest economy in the world if the right leadership is installed.

    The message signed by the forum’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Muhammad Ibrahim stressed the need for Nigerians to rise against the nation’s challenges and collectively build a nation devoid of corruption.

    It also urged Nigerians to participate fully in the forthcoming 2015 general elections by ensuring that they register as voters and vote for credible candidates of their choice in all the elective positions across the country.

    The message reads: “As we celebrate Nigeria at 54, ACF calls on Nigerians to brace up to the challenges and unite to build a virile Nation that will be the pride of all, devoid of corruption, ineptitude, oppression and impunity. A nation where respect for the rule of law, human dignity and principles of democracy shall reign supreme.

    “Nigeria has the potential to be one of the biggest economy in the world with the right leadership, ACF therefore, urges all eligible Nigerians to fully participate in the imminent 2015 general elections by ensuring that they register as voters and also vote for competent and credible candidates of their choice in all the elections. Nigeria needs credible leadership to navigate out of this quagmire.

    “ACF wishes all Nigerians at home and in the diaspora a Happy Independence Anniversary.”

  • Arewa to Jonathan: you’ve failed woefully

    Arewa to Jonathan: you’ve failed woefully

    Barely four days after the apex Northern socio-cultral group, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), wrote an openly letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, lamenting the state of insecurity in the region, the forum yesterday held an emergency meeting with non-government organisations from the North, where it accused the President of failing woefully to protect the people of the region.

    The ACF National Executive Council (NEC) Chairman, Ibrahim Ahmadu Coomassie, a former Inspector-General of Police, alleged that there is a deliberate plan or attempt to emasculate the North economically and divide them politically.

    The forum chairman said: “As we gather here today to discuss, let us not lose sight of the fact that there is a Federal Government, whose responsibility it is to protect the lives and safeguard the property of every citizen of this country.

    “What we are witnessing today is a complete reversal of that role. The government of the day under the leadership of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has woefully failed to protect us.

    “While the North is being battered, the  people in government have not made serious effort to end it. For the first time in the history of this great nation, our President is being openly condemned for his ineptitude, immaturity and ineffectiveness.

    “Since the advent of the Boko Haram uprising in 2009, the region has witnessed a speedy descent into anarchy. The insurgency and insecurity situation we are faced with in the North is such that we have never imagined would happen to Arewa that we all grew up to know, love and cherish.

    “The Arewa that was bequeathed to us by our fore-fathers is no longer the same. Today the entire Northern region is under siege. The North is being attacked from all angles and fields.

    “Now the general belief is that this government and its leadership do not like us. The current policies and the government attitude towards the insurgency leave us with no better conclusion than to assume that there is a deliberate plan or attempt to emasculate the North economically, to reduce us numerically, disunite us religiously and divide us politically.

    “This is the grim situation we are faced with. As leaders of Arewa, it is incumbent upon us to rise up to the occasion. The entire citizenry of the North looks up to us with so much hope.

    “We must at this point bury our individual differences, come together and critically examine the situation before us. We must come out and speak with one united voice. We cannot afford to be seen to be divided.

    “This gathering must pose questions whose answers should appraise us with what is happening to the North and why Nigeria is drifting towards anarchy and shamelessness.”

  • Abia, Boko: Arewa, State Police, idiocy and us

    Some of my police – hating friends are still convalescing from a brand of shock last week what I defined to them as the injuries of idiocy. That idiocy is disability to see deep down through, right to the bottom of public policy or advocacy. The irrepressible Tai Solarin and Akin Aguda lent themselves to this danger in the movement of the Federal capital from Lagos to Abuja, believing the reasons for the relocation were pure as stated. President Ebele Jonathan fell for it in the campaign to prevent Nigeria’s 36 states from having their police forces, as the regions had in the First Republic. On Tuesday last week, the president must have had second thoughts when about 500 men from the northern Nigeria traveling in a 35-bus convoy were arrested at about 03.00am by soldiers at a road-block in Abia State. Two of the buses escaped into the dead of the night. Coming within 48 hours after the foiling of attempts by Boko Haram to bomb five churches in Owerri was foiled, the arrests fueled speculations that the 500 men were Boko Haram soldiers. The fear aligns with recent threats by Boko Haram that it would bomb oil installations in Port Harcourt and other parts of the Niger Delta. Northern leaders and youths immediately described the arrests as infringements on the right to free movement claiming the suspects were heading for Port-Harcourt in search of jobs. An attempt to free the suspects on bail has failed. And detectives have claimed one of the suspects was a key Boko Haram terrorist wanted by Nigeria’s Federal government and the United States. With that, the rest of the story-line can be pinned together. One fraction of the evolving story-line is that they were heading for Oron and, from there, the Cameroun border to pick arms, which are no longer readily available in the Nigeria’s northern border with Chad and Niger Republic.

    I suspect that, if they are Boko, their mission may include Bayelsa State, home state of President Jonathan. What better prize, apart from Abuja, would Boko have claimed for itself if it could blast Bayelsa real hard to tell the world a president who couldn’t defend his own village couldn’t be president of Nigeria? Psychologically, that would be bad not only for the President and his kith and kindred back in Bayelsa State, but the rest of the country. I suspect that, with that, mass movements would begin across the country, everyone to his or her own tent in his or her own native land. And this may be yet a drizzle foreboding a stormy rainfall ahead.

    With these events last week, it became clear to more people in the south of Nigeria, the ostriches and the doubting Thomases, that Nigeria is at war, a brand of civil war different from the classical civil war, and that many people down south have not seen this unfolding picture for what it is. Last week, this column described the ostrich as a stupid animal. When it senses or sees danger in its environment, it buries its head in the sand. It believes if it cannot see the danger, the danger cannot see it. As for doubting Thomases, they are people who see heavy clouds in the sky, do not believe it would rain, even lightning and thunder, in love, give them the final warnings and time to seek shelter. Last week, this column also published from the column of Gbogungboro in the The Nationon May 29, 2014. It suggests the north of Nigeria is under instruction from Sultan of Sokoto Ahmadu Bello to make Nigeria an extension of Uthman Dan Fodio’s empire by using the Middle Belt region to prevent the south from pursuing its destiny and making it a slave of the north. That charge, said to be in a speech of the Sultan 11 days after Nigeria’s independence from Britain, was quoted as follows in Gbogungboro  May29 2014 column in The Nation as stated:

    ‘Someday, some bright historians will reveal to the world the causes and details of this most unfortunate turn in Hausa-Fulani attitudes to the political development of Nigeria. Much of what we know is encapsulated in the statement credited to Sir Ahmadu Bello, the leader of the Hausa-Fulani political elite, only 11 days after the day of independence. This new country called Nigeria, ‘he was reported to have said, ‘should be an extension of the empire of our great-grandfather Othman dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of government. We used the peoples of Middle Belt as willing tools and the peoples of the South as conquered territory, and never let them rule over us, and never let them control their own future’.

    That is the path that Hausa-Fulani politics has pursued ruthlessly since then. The central piece of it is to hold the power of the federal government by all means, and to use it to subdue the other peoples of Nigeria, in order to mould Nigeria into a de facto Fulani empire- what some now call a ‘sultan-state.

    From this, the slogan, BORN TO RULE, which many southern people find objectionable has legitimacy in the northern script! So does Boko Haram, inherent in any public advocacy or debate is an item of this script. So, when the police road-blocks were dismantled, and many southerners rejoiced, did they look deep to the bottom of the ban? I remember telling my friends it was better for policemen to collect bribes at those check-points if their presence would deter criminals and enable us all sleep like babies at night. I said so, mindful of the claim that the police are armed robbers. But did we think that, if they did, they couldn’t do so from their barracks? In berating the police, we seem not to remember the social interchange theory. The police are not from planet Mars. They are bonafide members of our society. If we are corrupt, so will they. In the North-East, where it is most active, Boko Haram has exploited inadequate policing to great advantages. We saw the value of adequate policing when the traditional hunters of Borno took it upon themselves to police their towns and villages: Boko Haram activity stalled for a while. Those 35 bus loads of Boko Haram suspects from the north would not have moved as freely and as swiftly as they did if there were enough policemen on all the routes which yielded it free passage and one of the ways to do this is to let the states set up their own police forces.

  • FG has hidden agenda against North – Arewa

    The Pan Northern socio-political organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Thursday hit hard at the government handling of the Boko Haram insurgency and the abduction of the schoolgirls from Chibok, saying President Goodluck Jonathan’s response is a suggestion of a hidden agenda against the region.

    The northern umbrella body also lampooned the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, for conducting what it called a mock trial of government officials on national television and concluded that the entire episode was a hoax.

    In a statement entitled: “Insecurity and Government Ineptitude” and signed by the body’s Secretary General, Col. John Paul Ubah (rtd), the ACF expressed disappointment at the lack of seriousness on the part of the government in handling of the girls’ abduction and the entire insurgency.

    The ACF noted that the President displayed lack of urgency in the handling of the issue until Nigerians poured out to the streets to demand government action, adding that the first lady on her part has taken steps to disrupt efforts by concerned Nigerians to free the abducted girls by claiming that nobody was 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 North East 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.”

     

  • Chibok: North welcomes US, Britain offer

    The north Thursday welcomed the offer of assistance by some foreign countries particularly the United States, Britain, France and China to locate and rescue the school girls abducted in Chibok, Borno State by members of the Boko Haram sect.

    In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the pan northern socio-political, Arewa Consultative Forum, Mohammed Ibrahim, the region said even though government efforts at rescuing the girls is coming belatedly, it is better late than never.

    The statement reads: “The Federal Government has constituted a Presidential Committee on a fact finding mission to verify the number of Chibok school girls abducted, trace their whereabouts and identify the lapses of government agencies in this saga.

    “Although the Federal Government has acted belatedly, it is a good development considering the general outrage and protests by women organisations, civil societies and the general public on its earlier inaction posture.

    “ACF had earlier called on the government to make concerted effort towards the safe rescue and release of the abducted girls from their captors.

    “ACF therefore urges the committee to swing into action, collaborate with Borno State government and security agencies to immediately rescue the kidnapped female students. ACF appreciates the assistance being offered to Nigeria by the United States, Britain, China and other countries to rescue the abducted girls.

    “ACF equally shares the grief, plight and concern of the parents, relations and all Nigerians in this traumatic experience and pray for the safe release of these innocent girls.”

     

  • North and the ogre of Rehoboam

    North and the ogre of Rehoboam

    The conceit of Rehoboam, son of Solomon; and the conceit of some Arewa elements need bold comparison, if Nigeria must escape self-imposed catastrophe.

    The Bible says the hubris of Rehoboam, son of the great Solomon, was to fulfil Jehovah’s prophesy to Jeroboam, son of a nobody called Nebat.

    Still, a version of the same Bible recorded that Rehoboam hearkened the voice of “worthless young men”, against wise and seasoned elders.

    So, the scion of the wisest man of all time embraced the greatest folly of all time: promising his people more pain but expected them to clap?

    And how does Rehoboam’s self-sealed fate compare to the Greek, King Oedipus, in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, or as locally adapted, King Odewale in Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are not to Blame — two tragic heroes fleeing a supposed curse, only to end up with that fate, because vengeful gods had decreed it so?

    Rehoboam’s hubris — arrogance and unconscionable pride — split the united kingdom he inherited, into Judah and Israel.  But the base of that empty pride was injustice of the most brazen kind.

    The Jews, at least according to the Bible, are a divine race.  But not even that perceived divinity could, in ancient Israel, hold together their primal nation, in the face of clear injustice.

    So, if injustice can smash Israel, the divinely favoured, how would Nigeria fare, Lugard’s mere creation of colonial greed, for the sole economic pleasure of the British?

    Like Rehoboam’s, the arrogance of the Arewa demand at the ongoing National Conference (NC), unfurled by its delegates in a 47-page document, is stunning, the stuff of which clear hubris is made.  How can a region that contributes least to a common wealth insist its words must be the Nigerian dicta?

    But to start with, there is pretty little difference between the power elites of the North (particularly the segment hooked on old patriotic freeloading) and the Niger Delta.  With the ascendancy of Goodluck Jonathan, both have resorted to the threatening language of power; and seldom the civil language of reason.

    That is why, for instance, old man Edwin Clark would bait his presidential protégé to “sack” North East governors, under the guise of dismantling democratic institutions for Boko Haram emergency.  Now that Boko Haram is making Nyanya, Abuja, its new satanic play ground, do we now call for the dismantling of the Presidency, to proclaim an emergency?

    See the vacuity of the language of power — no reason, no rigour, no justice, no equity, no fair play, not even common sense: just contemptible flexing of muscles, because it feels the other party could be vanquished?

    Though the North’s NC demand document is reportedly authored by the medley of northern governors, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation — hardly a profile that fits Rehoboam’s “worthless young men” — its demands match the biblical experience in sheer recklessness.

    Are these seasoned patricians not beyond the rashness of Rehoboam’s callow youths?

    Fitting enough, the document opens with sheer conceit: “Northern Nigeria, the backbone and strength of Nigeria” — how so?  Still, self-delusion is no crime.  But the document went on to brag about its “extremely understated” population.  So, population quantum, even of the laggard by all objective parameters, is something to brag about?

    Then, nice try: the Arewa as “accountant-general of the federation”, tallying who has got what since 1999!  South-South: N17.74 trillion (six states).  Northern states: “only” N10.53 trillion (for 19 states).  Combined South West and South East: N8.79 trillion (11 states).

    So now, what?  A pan-Nigeria gang-up against the Niger Delta because their majesties, The North has hinted so?  A pitiful appeal to pity, not because of what is said, but what is left unsaid.

    Will the weeping Arewa and its hoped for snivelling ensemble push for anything less than even 50 per cent derivation, were they to bear oil and its massive environmental poisoning; with the proverbial irresponsibility of the Nigerian state?

    True, the Niger Deltans could be thoroughly annoying with their bleating of “our oil, our oil”.  And true too: it might not be totally unfounded, the North’s document’s insinuation, that a South-South lunatic fringe might be toying with the idea of annexing the oil wealth for the locals’ sole pleasure.

    Still, is this speculation enough for the North to insist on rolling back derivation to five per cent, forgetting too soon that its pre-12 June 1993 brazen excesses, which climaxed with the reckless annulment of Nigeria’s best ever presidential election, forced the increased derivation on the country?

    And the so-called Article 76 on territorial waters, of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea — how does that law relate with extant municipal conventions, and even common sense, so much so that a part of the country thousands of miles to an oil deposit would question the primacy of host communities over such deposits?

    But of course!  A North that told hideous lies about selling off its groundnuts and cotton wealth to “solely” win the Civil War (1967-1970) cannot be trusted with comprehensive conscience on such matters.

    Indeed, if the Civil War claim is true, why the Yakubu Gowon joker of carving the then four regions of East, Midwest, North and West into 12 states?  Was it not to seize, from Biafra, the minority oil producing areas of the former East?

    Again, the most tragic thing about the North’s latest manoeuvre is mass distraction.

    The ruling party and leading opposition feud over the papers of a crashing house.

    The Middle Belt, whose Christian segment always chafes at the slightest hint of Islamic domination by the core North, stay blissfully quiet, even if it is listed as part of the 19 northern states that authored this latest insouciant and reckless document.

    And the over-fed and over-pampered NC committee members on restructuring?  They are busy putting white coating, like the Biblical whited sepulchre, on the extant centrist structure that could yet be the grave of Nigeria.

    But let the tiny northern hegemons behind all of this get this for free.  The very hubris that pushed the North to its plunge after the rash annulment of June 12 will yet bait it, by its provocative demands, to fragment Nigeria.

    Should that happen, no region would rue Nigeria’s break-up more than the North — not the innocent masses who are only pawns, but its freeloading elite.

    Besides, such catastrophe would not be a poor King Odewale running away from a curse only to end up living that curse, but a rash Rehoboam bringing ruin upon himself.

    Unlike the Jewish nation that survived the Diaspora, however, Nigeria will be totally blotted out.

    So, those who love Nigeria had better speak up now on the side of justice and equity before it is too late — or  forever be mute.

  • Security agencies’ support aids Boko Haram success – Arewa

    The pan northern socio-political organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), said Friday the activities of the Boko Haam insurgents are boasted by cooperation and support from within the military and other security agencies.
    It therefore asked the government to carry out an in-house search of its security apparatus and put in place measures that will boost the morale of the troops deployed to fight the insurgents and instill confidence on the people.
    In a communiqué at end of its National Executive Council meeting and signed by the Secretary General, Col. John Paul Ubah, the ACF ask the military to constantly update Nigerians on efforts to rescue the abducted female students of Government Girls Secondary schools, Chibok, Borno State, to reduce fear and concern of parents.
    The communiqué reads in part: “The forum deliberated extensively on the current National security challenges and in particular, the abduction of over 200 female students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State and other issues of national interest.
    “The forum expressed serious concern over the spate of killings of innocent people and wanton destruction of property by unknown gunmen and Boko Haram insurgents in most parts of the northern region. The forum therefore resolved to issue the following statement.
    “Government should make concerted efforts to secure the release of the abducted female students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State that were abducted by persons suspected to be Boko Haram insurgents since April 14.
    “The military authorities should as a matter of urgent duty keep the nation abreast of efforts being made to rescue the kidnapped students in order to reduce the fears and concern of parents, relations and the entire citizenry.
    “The security agencies should also open themselves to the intelligence being provided by the community on the alleged movement of the abducted students across our borders and seek support and cooperation of our neigbours to track down the abductors and their victims.
    “It is strongly believed that without the support and cooperation from within the military and security circles, the insurgents would not have been succeeding so easily in their dastardly acts.
    “ACF notes the concern of all Nigerians on this unfortunate abduction of female students and commends the various women organisations that trooped out in Maiduguri, Abuja and Kaduna and other places to express their anger and displeasure over the abduction of school girls.”
    “The ACF urges the Federal Government to do an in-house search of its security apparatus and put in place measure that will boost the morale of the troops and inspire confidence of the people in the government.”