…as SOKAPU says ‘one North a deceit, never existed’
Arewa Consultative Forum says membership of the umbrella Northern socio-political group is not by force.
ACF National Publicity Secretary, Emmanuel Yawe, said this in his reaction to the breakaway of the North-Central from the pan-Northern organisation.
Yawe said the emergence of the North-Central Peoples Forum was nothing to worry about.
“WE ARE NOT WORRIED WHEN SUCH A THING HAPPENS BECAUSE WHEN YOU ARE SO BIG AND YOU ACCOMMODATE PEOPLE OF SUCH DIVERSE BACKGROUNDS, A LOT OF THINGS ARE BOUND TO DEVELOP”
Prominent leaders from the North-Central, on Wednesday, announced their exit from the ACF, citing the worsening insecurity in northern Nigeria.
NCPF, which has as its interim Chairman, a former Minister of Health, Gabriel Aduku, said it would fight insecurity in the North-Central.
Yawe, in his comment on the NCPF’s emergence, said the ACF was a big family that accommodated diverse interests in the region.
He, however, added that the ACF was not riled by the development and not interested in expelling the NCPF member.
ACF spokesman said, “We are not worried at the ACF at all. The north is a very big region of this country. Niger State alone is three times bigger than the entire South-East geopolitical zone. So, we are not worried when such a thing happens because when you are so big and you accommodate people of such diverse backgrounds, a lot of things are bound to develop.
‘We cannot force everybody to belong to the ACF, but we accept every northerner as member of ACF.
“We have a vision of what we want the North to be. We want the North to catch up and maybe overtake the South in terms of development in education, industry, agriculture and everything. So, any group that says it has broken away from the ACF, if really they have broken away, if they have the same vision with us, they are welcome.”
But the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union commended the emergence of the NCPF.
“THE TRUTH SHOULD BE SINKING INTO EVERYONE THAT A UNITED, MONOLITHIC NORTH, IF IT EVER EXISTED, IS FINALLY DEAD AND BURIED”
SOKAPU National Public Relations Officer, Mr Luka Binniyat, in his reaction to the formation of the NCPF, said that the development was long awaited.
Binniyat said that the ACF meant little or nothing to the people of Southern Kaduna.
He said, “It is a super positive development and long awaited, although it will be subsumed under the Middle Belt Forum, in which Southern Kaduna is an active member.
“ACF means little or nothing for Southern Kaduna but serves as a ruse to pursue the interest of the core north under a false ‘One North’ that has truly never existed.
“The truth should be sinking into everyone that a united, monolithic North, if it ever existed, is finally dead and buried, no matter the number of Middle Belt persons they are fronting as leaders of the ACF.
“SOKAPU welcomes the development and we shall write to congratulate them for their courage and vision.”
But the Middle Belt Forum said it did not know the real intention behind the formation of the breakaway group.
MBF National President, Dr Bitrus Porgu, said only time would tell, adding that the Forum remained intact and ready to face any group or organisation whose formation was to destabilise the people of the region.
“We are watching what the people in the breakaway ACF will do because for now, we don’t know their real intention. If dissatisfaction in the operation of the parent body was the reason behind the formation of the new group or a design to destabilise the Middle Belt Forum, we will know with time,” Porgu said.
