The pan Northern sociocultural organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), on Wednesday expressed worries over the incessant killings of innocent citizens in the North, noting that from civilisation, Nigeria was fast returning to barbarism.
ACF National Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbeh, made the call while addressing its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Kaduna on Wednesday.
Reacting to the recent killing of a f-year-old Hanifa Abubakar in Kano, setting ablaze of 20 passengers in Sokoto and reported cases of bullying and sodomy in schools across the country, he said Nigeria cannot afford to return to barbarism after civilisation.
Chief Ogbeh said ACF will support a presidential candidate for the forthcoming 2023 presidential election, who has the capacity to move Nigeria out of the present security and economic challenges it is currently facing, just as he said the Forum will meet with their counterparts from other regions, like Afenifere, Ohanaeze, South South People Movement to discuss on peace building and consensus among the various regions.
“We are having experiences which are very scary, a 5-year-old girl killed by a school proprietor in Kano, 20 people were locked in a vehicle in Sokoto and set ablaze. It is a terrible thing. We appealed to proprietors of schools and government to take measures to stop these heinous crimes in our schools.
“Horrible things are happening even in government schools and military institutions. Many bad things are happening, bullying, sodomy all kinds of things are rumoured. Government must try very hard to bring order to these schools. We are very concerned about these developments, our country cannot return to barbarism after experiencing civilization.
“There are economic challenges everywhere, people are finding it difficult to feed their family, kidnapping along highways, relentless criminalities. Farmers cannot go to their farms to harvest their crop, they have to pay taxes to be allowed to harvest their crops and farming is our main occupation in the North.
“We are in a very delicate period, it is for these reasons that we are not having too many meetings because we don’t want anybody coming for these meetings to be affected on the highways.
“The 2023 election is on the way, people would meet you and ask if ACF is endorsing anyone or if ACF is supporting anyone, make it clear to them that we are not political parties, that the parties have not told us their candidates yet. After the candidates are picked by their parties, they will come to talk to us, they will give us their agenda, then we will know who to support.
“We are not a political party but we hope we will get a good person who will lead Nigeria out of the circumstances in which we found ourselves. We have not had it this bad and it should not continue for too long.
“We commend the Governor of Kaduna state for the wonderful job he is doing trying to change a semi rural town to a semi urban state. We also commend the Governor of Kano state for closing down that school and revoking the licenses of other private schools.
“We are meeting with our counterparts from other regions, Afenifere, Ohanaeze, South South People Movement to discuss with them on building peace and consensus among the various regions. We have not held these meetings yet due to few obstacles. We need to appeal for peace and understanding to stop abusing and quarelling with each other which does not make any sense and does not stand well for Nigeria.
“Should there be chaos here, where do we go as refugees? Refugees don’t carry more than Ghana must go bag, you don’t carry your car, your Television set, your microwave. We don’t want chaos to take place,” he said.
