Some prominent leaders of the north-central region have
pulled out of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) to form a new group known as
the North-Central Peoples Forum.
The leaders said the new group is a part of efforts to
tackle the challenges confronting the north-central, particularly the rising
security threats in the area.
At the launch of the forum in Abuja on Wednesday, they said
the organisation will serve as a non-partisan body with the primary objective
of promoting peace and unity in the region.
The forum named Jerry Useni, a former minister and senator,
as its chairman of the board of trustees, while Gabriel Aduku, former minister
of state for health, was appointed as the interim chairman.
Addressing journalists, Useni said the new group is similar
to the socio-political platforms which various regions use to fight for their
interest.
“It is in the light of the foregoing that it becomes imperative
and pertinent for us as a zone to rise to the challenges and launch our own
geopolitical platform from where we can draw the attention of relevant
authorities on the need to address various socio-economic, political and
securities challenges ravaging our zone,” he said.
“Those of you who are present here today should consider
yourself as the voice and true representative of your people whom they have
known to have at one time or the other represented them fully at various level.
“Therefore, no
sacrifice will be too much on our side to give the people of the zone the peace
and development they desire from us as their leaders.
“We will support and cooperate fully with the federal
government for full and complete implementation of infrastructures, development
projects situated in the zone and the involvement of the people of the zone in
the national affairs of the country.”
‘OUR LIVES ARE NO
LONGER SACRED’
Also speaking, Aduku said the north-central is facing
unprecedented challenges on security and development.
The forum’s interim chairman said the leaders of the
north-central are worried by the killings in the region, lamenting that “lives
within the zone have ceased to be sacred”.
“In the face of all the above great endowments and
potentials, which should have made the zone both political, economic and
socio-cultural hub of Nigeria, it is unfortunately bedevilled by security and
developmental challenges of unprecedented dimensions,” he said.
“In terms of insecurity, it is an incontrovertible fact that
almost in all states of the zone are people being killed and kidnapped
regularly. Lives within the zone have ceased to be sacred.
“The leaders of the forum are no longer interested in the
unending theories about the killings, but that they must stop. These have thus
made our dear giant an endangered species amongst the comity of the six
geopolitical zones of the federation.”
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