ACF says newly-formed NCPF won’t affect Northern unity
We’re still part of Arewa, says Aduku
Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has said that the newly-formed North Central Peoples Forum (NCPF) will not affect the unity of the North.
The new group led by the former Minister of State for Health, Chief Gabriel Aduku (Chairman); ex-ACF chairman, Gen. Jeremiah Useni (rtd.); and others pulled out of ACF to fight for the course of Middle Belt.
Reacting to the formation of NCPF, spokesman of ACF, Emmanuel Yawe, said the decision of few former members of ACF would not significantly impact on the strength of the North and its unity.
Yawe told The Guardian: “There is no problem over the formation of the North Central Peoples Forum and it cannot affect the unity of the North in the contest of Nigeria.
“General Useni was the chairman of ACF. If there is a problem, he has not told us. If he has a problem with ACF, he has not tabled it. So, we cannot just assume what is going on in his mind.”
He insisted that Useni was a prominent national leader of ACF, who should have discuss any problem with ACF.
“The North has always been diverse; it has never been monolithic as many people think. During the First Republic, JF Tarka had his own people, while Aminu Kano and Sardauna had theirs.
“So, the ACF is trying to bring the people together, instead of all the violence and fighting all the time. If they are forming a new group that will improve the plight of the North, they are welcome. What we don’t like is the violence,” he added.
MEANWHILE, Aduku has said that members of NCPF are still part of ACF.
The former Minister of State for Health, who emerged the new forum’s interim chairman, said in Abuja yesterday: “We are part of ACF, but we have a territory, which is geographically bound in six states that contain what they call North Central Zone. This zone is a clear boundary including the FCT. So, we just felt there should be a body that will be coming out within the zone to make it more united and take some responsibility of looking after major developments in the zone.”
While asserting that other zones like the North East were moving, he said the new group was formed to move the North Central forward like its peers.
