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• Says northerners in charge of sensitive security positions
From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Arewa Progressive Forum (APFO) has disowned the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) over a comment on President Bola Tinubu’s approach to security in the region, saying the elders’s position was not a collective decision of the region.
To the group, Tinubu has shown interest in addressing the security challenges in the country and North in particular by appointing credible sons of the region into sensitive security positions in addition to ongoing daily military and police operations in the North.
NEF had claimed to have regretted its decision to vote for President Tinubu in the 2023 elections, with a threat that the North had learnt its lesson over heightened security challenges under the Tinubu-led administration.
Addressing newsmen, yesterday, APFO National Secretary, Abbas Danbatta, said the outbursts of the elders’ forum did not represent the northern agenda for peace and national unity of the country which is not negotiable.
He said example that the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, and Minister of State Defence, Bello Matawalle, have been up and doing in their efforts to ensure peace returns to the North when they have the opportunity to serve under Tinubu’s led presidency.
“To us, President Tinubu’s approach to the issues of security in the North so far, especially in the North West is one of the best compared to his immediate predecessor, former president, Muhammadu Buhari’s approach.
“Northern elders should be seen as mediators or opinion shapers on national unity, cohesion and progress without regional bias. This is key because Nigeria’s unity cannot be negotiated on the pages of newspapers,” the group said.
The group further supported Matawalle over his mature response to the NEF outbursts, saying the people behind the claim were more interested in personal gains than the unity and survival of Nigeria.
It advised the concerned elders to leverage one of their members, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, who is the special adviser to Vice President Kashim Shettima on political matters to facilitate a meeting with the presidency on a better way to go about their interests rather than through the media.
