From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Barely one year in office as the duly elected Chairman of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Gabriel Aduku, was yesterday, removed. No reason was given for his removal.
Aduku was minister of state for health under the administration of former president, Goodluck Jonathan.
Reacting to questions from newsmen, ACF’s spokesman, Tukur Muhammad-Baba, said: “No ACF chairman was elected as such. A set of persons were selected and presented, but were never inaugurated.
“The list was reviewed by the ACF’s Leadership Selection Committee; it is the final list that is now presented, approved by the joint assembly and inaugurated.
“Whosoever that was not inaugurated today simply did not make it in the final list as presented by the selection committee.”
Aduku was replaced by the newly selected chairman, Mamman Mike Osman.
A statement by the ACF’s spokesman, said: “A joint meeting of the Board of Trustees (BoT) and the National Executive Council (NEC) of the ACF met in Kaduna on Tuesday, December 12, 2023, to discuss matters of interest to the organisation.
“Foremost before the meeting was the endorsement of new leadership for the ACF, which was approved and inaugurated by the BoT Chairman, Bashir Mohammed Dalhatu, his deputy, Fred Orti, Vice BoT Chairman, Ibrahim Mai Sule, NEC Chairman, Mamman Mike Osman and Secretary General, Murtala Aliyu.
Osman, in his acceptance speech, paid tribute to the founding members of ACF. He pledged that the new NEC would reinvigorate a new ACF that will be different in outlook and impact as it seeks to contribute to national discourse on issues relevant to the Nigeria project.
The meeting also received a goodwill message from the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, who also urged the ACF to provide the needed leadership for ushering a new northern Nigeria in its bid to overcome the multi-faceted social and economic problems, as well as for unity.
However, Kogi East Elders’ Council (KEEC) and the Arewa Youth Vanguard, said they had earlier uncovered alleged plans by the state Governor, Yahaya Bello, to cause cracks in the leadership of the forum with the intention to cause the removal of the chairman of the Forum, Aduku.
The two bodies, in a separate statements, said Governor Bello did not take lightly the visit of the ACF chairman to the Chief of Defence Staff, Christopher Musa, shortly before the November 11 off-season election in Kogi State, to request among others, the beef-up of security in the North, and particularly, in Kogi State, which was sliding into anarchy due to insecurity.
The KEEC statement was signed by its Secretary, Alphonsus Alhassan.
In the same vein, the Arewa Youth Vanguard, through its leader, Abdulsamad Babayo, has warned that the forum would be sounding its own death knell if it played into the hands of unscrupulous politicians.
“Removing or attempting to remove Aduku because one governor’s untamed ego has been ruffled will create a crack in the very fabric of ACF, a crack that it may never recover from.
“As elders, we urge you as fellow elders, to be temperate, logical and dispassionate in handling this contentious matter. Politicians come and go but this house must not be made to fall due to indiscretion orchestrated by an irrational megalomaniac.
“Do not embarrass the forum by playing into the hands of an inexperienced youth, who has squandered a golden opportunity to make his mark in life. Doing that would be a blight on the integrity of an August body like the ACF,” Kogi East elders said.
However, messages sent to the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kogi State, Kingsley Fanwo, were ignored. He, however, directed later that the reporter should kindly resend the message on his WhatsApp.
Fanwo also did not pick his call when a telephone call was put across to him by Daily Sun.