The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has expressed concern over what it describes as worsening insecurity across the country and the Federal Government’s inadequate response to the situation.
In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Tukur Muhammad-Baba, the Forum said the armed non-state actors have continued to attack communities, abduct citizens and disrupt livelihoods, while political office holders appeared increasingly focused on the 2027 general elections.
ACF cited reported attacks and abductions in Zamfara, Benue, Katsina, Kogi, and Niger states, as well as the abduction of prospective National Youth Service Corps members in Imo State.
It criticised President Bola Tinubu’s Independence Anniversary address, saying insecurity received only brief mention.
“President Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s Independence Anniversary address to Nigeria, prosaically delivered, made only a single, fleeting mention of insecurity, as if just a grudging and irritating footnote. This is very telling. Scores of children remain in the hands of terrorists in Borno, Kwara and other states, although those abducted in Oyo State at the same time (as those of Borno) have since been rescued and reunited with their families,” the group said.
“Many other hapless citizens are and continue to be hoarded into the bush and held in captivity under horrendous conditions. In the penultimate week, there were disturbing attacks by terror gangs on defenceless communities in Zamfara State, where five different incidents were recorded on a single day with, as sadly usual, lives lost and scores of people abducted and property looted. Indeed, on an almost daily basis, the attacks occur at different locations in Zamfara State, as if the State has become a killing field.
“In Plateau State, sporadic armed attacks and killings by gangs punctuate daily lives. On the Mambila Plateau and other locations in Taraba State, grim news of deaths, injuries and destruction has become commonplace.”
It called on political office holders to prioritise the protection of citizens over electioneering campaigns, warning that continued violence poses a serious threat to communities and national stability.
“In contrast, elected officials and other politically exposed stakeholders seem more concerned and obsessed with the forthcoming 2027 elections. Delivering governance has become a far distant priority. Both scenarios are utterly as disheartening as they are frightening because they strike at the very foundation and pose a definite existential threat to Nigeria,” it said.
The ACF said every new incident of insecurity should be treated as one too many, insisting that political activities must give way to action to end the killings.
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