From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has said the insecurity across the country is worsening because of the distance of political leadership from the people.
The group in a statement by its National Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbe, issued by National Publicity Secretary, Emmanuel Yawe, accused the executives, legislators at federal and state levels of not protecting citizens and briefing them on efforts being made to stem the tide of insecurity. It also flayed the silence of the judiciary over speculations that those arrested over insecurity were often freed through the back door.
“Perhaps it is time for the executive arm from federal to state levels to request our elected representatives to embark on a fresh mission to the people in which a fresh message of integration shall be delivered, while the challenges confronting governments can be brought to their knowledge.
“Regional groups, socio-cultural associations, religious and other community leaders can and should equally be fully briefed and mobilised to lend support to this effort. We are a religious people, very religious indeed, but not particularly godly in view of our weaknesses in public and private pursuits, but God is good and will not ignore our prayers and abandon us in our hour of need.”
“I may add that nothing will better create confidence than the immediate set-up through appropriate mechanisms of special courts to try those caught in transgressions, such as kidnapping, murder, rape, arson, trafficking in human parts and possession and marketing of dangerous weapons. Let the public hear that government is proactive. Let the guilty be penalised and the innocent set free as dictated by the principles of the rule of law.”
The ACF also decried the continuous devaluation of the naira saying it was fuelling inflation and creating unbearable stress for citizens.
“Interest rates are still too stiff for productive investments and job creation. Industrialisation is still near impossible. The Central Bank is making great efforts, but more needs to be done to bring relief to the unemployed and near-hopeless youths in our society. They are our sons and daughters.”
The group called for integration, confidence building and cohesion measures by government.
“Vicious criminality has sown fear in all. Economic challenges exacerbate pain in our daily lives and mistrust continues to aggravate division everywhere. So who will listen to whom? But do we surrender to despair, yield to anarchy and chaos? No, we cannot. That would be defeatism in the extreme.”