The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), said on Tuesday, it was stunned by a statement credited to the Zamfara Governor, Bello Mutawalle to the effect that he knew the identities of those behind the abduction of the Jangebe schoolgirls.
Recall that the Governor was reported to have said that Nigerians would be shocked if he disclosed the identities of the kidnappers.
Governor Matawalle made the statement when 17 Emirs paid a sympathy visit to him on the kidnap of 317 school girls from Government Girls Secondary School Jangebe in Talata Mafara.
But the ACF, in a statement by its National Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbeh in Abuja, asked the governor to reveal their identities and let Nigerians be shocked, even if the heavens would fall.
Chief Ogbeh also asked the security agencies to question the Governor on the identities of the criminals he was trying to hide.
The statement reads in parts: “If he refuses to disclose their identities, he must be treated as an accomplice to the criminal act of kidnapping.
“The ACF has been embarrassed by the spate of kidnappings especially of school children spreading like wild fire all over the north. People in positions of authority that will help us out of this mess like Governor Mutawalle must stop embarrassing the north and country with careless statements on a serious issue like the kidnappings of school children.
“Zamfara State and the north are way behind the rest of the country in educational development.
“The serial kidnappings of school pupils in the north will only worsen a bad and unacceptable state of education in the North.”
In a related development, the ACF said it shares the concerns of Nigerians over the decision of the Amalgamated Union of Foodstuff and cattle dealers to stop movements of needed food from the north to the south.
Chief Ogbeh, in a statement, called on the leadership of the union to put a halt to their so-called embargo and blockade.
He said: “Nigeria is not at war with itself and such a drastic action is not necessary. It will only further complicate the socio economic and political problems facing our country today.
“The members of the union are said to have suffered severe losses during the #Endsars riots and the recent violence in Sasha in Oyo state targeted against northerners.
“We believe that whatever may be the difficulties of their members in operating in other parts of the country, ACF leadership led by me is willing to help them solve these by talking to security agencies and the government.
“There is no need mounting a blockade by one section of the country against the other. Whatever may be our differences, the ACF as an ardent believer in free trade believes that goods should be allowed to move freely.”
“This extreme measure is not progressive & even counterproductive. This is not the way to go.”
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