The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has fiercely condemned the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), alleging that the sexual harassment claims against Senate President Godswill Akpabio are nothing more than a calculated political attack.

In a strongly worded press release, PANDEF accused ACF of attempting to destabilise the President Bola Tinubu-led administration and pave the way for a northern presidency in 2027.

National Publicity Secretary, Chief Dr. Obiuwevbi Christopher Ominimini, in a statement issued on Tuesday, described the ACF’s statements as “divisive and dangerous.”

PANDEF called out the group for suggesting an anti-Northern agenda in the Nigerian political space. The forum argued that legislative suspensions have always been part of Senate proceedings, recalling instances where southern senators faced similar fates without regional interference.

In a bold move, PANDEF has demanded the immediate arrest and questioning of ACF’s National Publicity Secretary, Prof. T. A. Mohammad-Baba, by the Department of State Security (DSS) and the Nigerian Police. The group accused ACF of inciting sectional tensions and attempting to undermine national unity.

Furthermore, PANDEF has announced plans for an emergency meeting to address what it sees as a coordinated attack on the South-South region. Reaffirming its support for Akpabio, the forum declared the allegations “dead on arrival” and warned against political tactics aimed at weakening southern influence.

With the 2027 elections looming, the battle for Nigeria’s political future is heating up. Will this power struggle widen the nation’s fault lines, or will it force a reckoning on the role of regional politics in national governance?

The statement read: “It is very sad that the supposed revered Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, has turned itself into a politically hired machine for politicians. The press release by the Publicity Secretary of the ACF is nothing but a political war against the entire people of Southern Nigeria, aiming to incite Northern Nigeria against the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in order to restore power back to Northern Nigeria in 2027.

“In his statements, where he said, ‘at a period when citizens are being overwhelmed by dire existential living conditions on account of the impact of public policies on lives and livelihoods,’ it is very clear that the 2027 presidential second tenure of President Tinubu is the real target. However, they have decided to start in parts, beginning with those they feel are the power base of President Tinubu and Southern Nigeria.

“PANDEF, therefore, states categorically that it is the turn of Southern Nigeria to produce the Nigerian President in 2027, having completed two consecutive tenures by the North under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

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“The Senate is a well-established institution with rules and guidelines. One is glad to read that the ACF knows that this is the 10th Senate of Nigeria, which means that there have been Senate Presidents in the past from Northern Nigeria.

“The Senate is a chamber of records. For ACF to insinuate that only Northerners are being suspended and to call for Northern Senators to rally around one of their own is a threat to the unity of this country.

“Just to give one example, in the 8th Assembly, a southern senator from the oil- and gas-rich region of the South-South geopolitical zone was suspended by a Northern Senate President. The apex sociopolitical body of the South-South geopolitical zone, PANDEF, never intervened in the activities of the Red Chamber of the National Assembly.

“Neither did we call on the Southern or South-South Senators to rally around one of our own. Suspensions and relocation of seats have been normal in the business of the legislature.

“Those who feel offended usually go to a competent court of law. That has been the normal practice. What ACF has just done is a call for anarchy, division, and a major threat to the unity of Nigeria. In fact, PANDEF hereby calls for the arrest and questioning of the ACF National Publicity Secretary, Prof. T. A. Mohammad-Baba, by the Department of State Security (DSS) and the Nigerian Police.

“Anybody who incites one part of the country against another part of the country is nothing but a pathway to anarchy and disunity, and it is treasonable, as the unity of the country is under threat by the ACF press release.

“It is very strange and sad to hear, as stated by the ACF National Publicity Secretary, that ‘ACF rues the development and hopes that it is not part of the thinly veiled anti-Arewa agenda now pervading the Nigerian political process.’ The question is, where is the anti-Arewa agenda coming from? Is it from Southern Nigeria or within Arewa?

“PANDEF has, therefore, concluded that this political calculation targeted against the Senate President through this well-orchestrated sexual harassment accusation is nothing but a political gimmick to fight back against the South-South geopolitical zone—the breadwinner of Nigeria—and the entire Southern Nigeria in the belief of ACF that there is an anti-Arewa agenda in Nigeria. This political sexual harassment accusation is, therefore, dead on arrival.

“PANDEF shall, therefore, call for an extraordinary meeting without delay to look deeper into this dance to the gallery by the ACF.

“PANDEF calls on the Senate President to remain resolute and be confident that we, his people, shall do all good things possible to rally around him in the face of this exposed, calculated political attack on his office, his person, and the Southern Nigeria-led presidency.

“The Senate has its own rules, and ACF cannot dictate to the Senate on how to conduct its business.”