The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has raised the alarm that the northern part of the country is currently under siege from the activities of insurgents, bandits and other criminal elements.

In his remarks yesterday at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the Forum, ACF Chairman, Mamman Osuman, however, added that even though some of President Bola Tinubu’s policies are unacceptable by the region, the elite from the north should also share in the blame over the underdevelopment of the area.

The ACF Chair acknowledged the newly formed Northern Group, which according to him has some members of ACF as its new members, advising that even though they are looking at the 2027 elections, charity should begin at home in the North.

He said: “I admit that some policies of the current administration are repugnant and adverse to our interests as a Region. ACF believes that certain policies and behaviours of our own leaders within our region need some critical evaluation. “It is not in doubt that the North is currently under siege.

Our dear region is not only being viciously attacked by bandits, terrorists and kidnappers but by sinister devices like disproportionate considerations and inequitable treatments. “Not long ago, I received an invitation from a new body, the League of Northern Democrats.

Attached to the invitation were seven pages wherein were listed 260 names most of whom were former governors, senators and known great sons and daughters from the North. I have read the objectives of the League.

“I commend the conveners of the meeting. I respect and appreciate their objectives which I must say, are not a deviation from that of ACF. “Their cause is worthy.

My view is that while they tinker with the overall political issues that threaten our survival in our region, this still remains an auspicious time to look inwards.

“To avoid being misunderstood, the progenitors of this brilliant concept should organise symposia where current travails that depress and make lives unbearable in our region are stultifying education and economic growth.”

In a communique after the meeting, ACF also said after a Review of the State of Arewa and the Nigerian nation, “from the perspective of ACF as the voice of the Northern Nigeria, focusing on the economy, existential conditions, politics, security and social conditions the body agreed that minimum duty of government is to safeguard life and property, and doing anything less is a failure.”

The communiqué, signed by Professor Tukur Muhammad-Baba, the spokesman of the Forum said: “Security is an irreducible minimum of human existence.

In this regard, insecurity in its various manifestations remains the most worrisome challenge of Arewa people that has even started to corrosively undermine the authority of government; such that people have started to ask what the purpose of government is!

That those whose responsibility that it is to provide security will be saying they are doing their best is unacceptable. “Leadership selection appears flawed, which allows so many people without competence and/or experience to rise to positions of power and authority.

This has to be addressed. There is also a tendency to base politics on personalities, not issues, and this has compounded the sorry state of affairs. Arewa must ask how this came to be and what can be done to redress the situation.

“Not enough can be said about the sorry state of education in Arewa, secular and religious. Statistics of outof-school children, of which Arewa has an overwhelming proportion are cogent pointers to the situation.”

ACF said a lot has been done but the truth is, far more needs to be done such as to look as if nothing is being done; indeed, “Arewa may well ask itself if the insufficiency and inadequacy of education are not directly correlated to the multitudes of problems bedevilling the region.”

The meeting noted in particular that Arewa people remain at great disadvantage, being already relatively worse off economically, compared to other parts of Nigeria. Livelihoods are currently dependent on micro activities.

Therefore ACF called on the Federal Government under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu to review, reassess, re-evaluate and re-order the direction of its economic policies with a view to giving it the needed human face.