The Arewa Consultative Forum, (ACF), has expressed profound sorrow that the relentless scourge of banditry, kidnapping, and various forms of criminality have exacerbated the suffering in the North, leaving families shattered and communities in ruins.
During the 78th National Executive Committee, (NEC), gathering of the Forum on Wednesday at its Kaduna secretariat, ACF Chairman, Chief Mamman Osuman, (SAN), lamented that the North continues to witness loss of lives to malevolent criminals, sociopaths, thugs, bandits, marauders, and terrorists, alongside the natural calamities and disasters that afflict the region.
This is a profoundly challenging era marked by political strife, indescribable upheavals, betrayal, crime, and environmental crises that are ravaging our people. We have also mourned the loss of children, middle-aged men and women, and the elderly, not only to natural causes, floods, and drowning but also as victims of nefarious criminals, Osuman articulated.
He called for reflection, vigilance, and a unified mission among families and communities in the region, urging them not to remain neutral or, like the ostrich, bury their heads in the sand under the false illusion that they are oblivious to the reality.
Osuman, while paying homage to esteemed northern figures recently lost to mortality, including former President Muhammadu Buhari, Justice Mohammed Uwais, Prof. Jubril Aminu, Chief Audu Ogbe, and Alhaji Aminu Dantata, led a moment of silence in their remembrance.
The chairman emphasized that the Forum stands non-partisan yet resolute in its commitment to protect the interests of the North within a unified and indivisible Nigeria.
The NEC also deliberated on arrangements for the 25th anniversary of the ACF scheduled for October, as well as enduring issues like the Ette boundary crisis, and conducted a review of the State of the Nation, which will culminate in a communiqué to be released by the Forum’s Publicity Secretary, Prof. Tukur Baba.
