…Says ‘It’s time to declare a war situation’
The Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Board of Trustees, (BoT), Bashir Ɗalhatu, has asked the Federal Government to declare a war situation in Nigeria in view of the unrelenting insecurity in the country.
The ACF leader, who was answering questions during a television programme on Friday, stressed that the North as a region was overwhelmed by banditry and terrorism.
“It is time for the Federal Government to declare a war situation,” he said as the government’s renewed onslaught against bandits and terrorists in the country.
The elder statesman admitted that the pervasive insecurity in the North was “self-inflicted”, in view of the uncontrolled population of the North and its millions of out-of-school children.
“We have fifteen million out-of-school children roaming the streets. If we had taken care of that, it would not have gotten out of hand”, he said.
Alhaji Dalhatu stressed that “some of these children have already missed the opportunity to be in school,” adding that what remained was to “see how best we can tame these bandits that have not gone to school”, saying “they have never enjoyed what city people enjoy”.
When asked to react to Sheikh Ahmed Gumi’s controversial statement that bandits were better than terrorists because they only kidnap for ransom, Ɗalhatu said “both kidnapping and killing are bad and condemnable”, stressing that “nobody wants to be killed; nobody wants to be kidnapped”.
On whether the North was protecting the bandits, the ACF leader said it would “offend my sensibility to suggest that the North is protecting bandits”.
“No child in his right senses will know a killer or kidnapper and will still tolerate such a person”, he stated.
