Apparently irked by alleged leadership crisis in the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), the Chairman, Mamman Mike Osuman (SAN) has urged members of the Northern socio-cultural group to desist from act that will derail its objectives and put the Forum in dispute.

According to him, the attention of the ACF has been drawn to an announcement of a change in the leadership of the organisation, saying that the report is totally false and the purported action from which the announcement derived is unconstitutional.

In a statement by the National Publicity of ACF, Professor Tukur Muhammad-Baba on Sunday, he said that Osuman (SAN) has authorised that the activities of those championing rumour of leadership change in the Forum be debunked, and “to disabuse the minds of members of the ACF, the press, and the public in general but especially the teeming masses of Arewa who have been suffering untold existential socioeconomic hardships.”

“Emphatically, the leadership of the Forum has neither authorised, knows about nor communicated on the purported change. The announcement should therefore be treated as null, void, of no effect whatsoever”, he said.

 Saying that “for the avoidance of doubts, ACF finds it necessary to clarify as follows, that “the approval of leaders of the Forum is vested in its General Assembly, which is yet to be convened for the purpose of filling any vacancies.Section 8 (6) of the ACF Constitution empowers the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Forum to give general advice and direction on matters relating to the Aims and Objectives”.

“Any other role outside the provision in this Section is unknown to the Constitution of the ACF. Thus, the BOT has no, authority to order any leadership change.The power to set up operational committees for any purpose is vested only in the NEC, vide Section 14 of the ACF Constitution. The purported set up of a Constitution Review is unconstitutional”, the statement added.

According to Professor Muhammad-Baba, “the stated Leadership Selection Committee is not known to the Constitution and exists, at the behest of NEC, in the exercise of its powers under item (o) of Section 14 (1). The leadership Selection Committee is, per se, only a creation of NEC as an ad hoc body, for the purpose of vetting and making recommendations to NEC for consideration and transmission to the General Assembly for approval”.

He argued, “the last Leadership Selection Committee fulfilled its role in 2023 and since then stands dissolved. It is yet to be reconstituted. NEC is already in the process of reconstituting the Selection Committee. In the event, any action, assignment, function or announcement(s) by person(s) claiming to exercise such putative functional power is, ipso factor, irregular, unconstitutional and will certainly remain unrecognised”.

Muhammad-Baba continued, “by the instrument of the ACF’s Constitution and specifically sub-sections (a), (c), (d) and (e) of Section (13), as well as sub-sections (a), (b) and (c) of Section (14), only the National Publicity Sectary or his/her, as may be the case, the Deputy and/or Assistant are empowered to publicise and project the image of the Forum.”

“Any statement(s) by person(s) other than the aforementioned portfolio officers should be entirely discountenanced”, he said.

He remarked further, “Mallam Murtala Aliyu remains in office as Secretary General until a successor emerges in accordance with due process. It is highly regrettable that the ACF is forced to issue this statement which may send wrong signals about some leadership crisis in the organisation.”

There is no such crisis, even as the Forum has been aware of clandestine and subterranean moves to engineer one to destabilise or annihilate the organisation, most plausibly by incentivised agents operating from within and outside ACF.

He stressed, “in conclusion, the Chairman assures members of the Forum, its numerous supporters, friends and well-wishers that ACF’s current leadership will jealously guard the integrity of Forum and resist any attempt to derail it. The leadership is determined to resist all and any attempts to subvert the attainment of the Aims and Objectives of the Forum as enunciated in its Constitution, as well as committed to ensuring due fidelity in observing the provisions of the ACF’s Constitution.”