North Needs Peace To Survive, Says ACF

Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has said that troubled Northern Nigeria needs peace and unity if it is to compete as an entity in the larger Nigerian federation, an objective for which it must seek the support of all its stakeholders.

The ACF expressed the concern in a communiqué following an emergency Joint meeting of its National Executive Council and the Board of Trustees in Abuja on Tuesday.  The communiqué was signed by the ACF’s National Publicity Secretary, Anthony Sani.  He said the meeting was called to receive and consider the Road Map for Peace, Unity and Development of Northern Nigeria, which was the product of resolutions of the Arewa Conference on Peace and Unity held last December.

“While the Forum supports any political strategies that would put the North in a position which will enable it negotiate with other sections of the country from a position of strength and secure some favourable terms, it was the considered view of the Forum that it is too early to start full-fledged political activities for 2015,” the communiqué said. “This is because such early start is capable of detracting from the task of governance at our collective peril.”

Concerning the controversy on the oil finds among states of Anambra, Enugu and Kogi, the meeting heard a briefing from a delegation from Kogi State.

“The Forum then asked the people of the states concerned not to be agitated unduly, precisely because both the offices of the Surveyor General and the National Boundaries Commission are there to resolve boundary disputes,” the communiqué said. 

“And that the Forum would stand by people of Kogi state for what is legally due and payable to them.”

Source: Legit.ng