The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has warned that Nigeria could drift towards anarchy if the Federal Government fails to take decisive action against Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Igboho, over his recent ultimatum directing Fulani residents to leave parts of Oyo State following the kidnapping of a pregnant woman and some of her relatives.
In an issued statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Tukur Muhammad Baba, the Forum described the ultimatum as unconstitutional, dangerous and capable of aggravating the country’s already fragile security situation.
The northern socio-cultural organisation said the action amounted to ethnic profiling and collective punishment, warning that it could deepen divisions and fuel retaliatory tensions across the country.
According to the ACF, security agencies, traditional rulers, community leaders and religious clerics have a responsibility to caution Igboho and prevent inflammatory rhetoric capable of undermining national unity.
The Forum argued that blaming an entire ethnic group for the criminal activities of a few individuals was unjustifiable and contrary to the principles of a democratic society. “Ethnic profiling is a many-sided sword, a recipe for anarchy and an aberration in the modern world”, the statement said.
The ACF further questioned the basis upon which the agitator concluded that the kidnappers were Fulani, noting that kidnapping in Nigeria has evolved into a criminal enterprise involving individuals from different ethnic, religious and social backgrounds. “It is not clear how he concluded that the kidnappers are of the Fulani ethnic group, when we know that the criminal enterprise that kidnapping has evolved into involves all manner of people irrespective of social identities — ethnicity, religion and gender”, the Forum stated.
The group maintained that the ultimatum was condemnable because it wrongly presumed that the alleged actions of a few criminals represented the entire Fulani population in the affected area.
ACF, therefore, urged the Federal Government and security agencies to act swiftly to prevent further escalation of ethnic tensions, warning that allowing such actions to go unchecked could threaten national cohesion and public order.
