The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has declared that Nigeria’s escalating insecurity has reached a “state of war,” and therefore urged the Federal Government to immediately prioritise and treat security as the country’s most pressing emergency.
The ACF stated this in a communiqué it issued after its 38th Board of Trustees meeting held in Kaduna on Wednesday and signed by its Chairman, Bashir M. Dalhatu.
Prominent northern leaders, including former top government officials, diplomats and security chiefs attended the meeting which extensively reviewed the escalating violence in the country, especially in the northern region.
It said Nigeria’s ravaging insecurity were no longer isolated insurgency, banditry and communal clashes, but had evolved into widespread violence threatening national stability.
The ACF’s remarks were coming after renewed terror attacks in the country in Borno, Kaduna, Katsina and Benue states during the Easter during which persons were killed, including five policemen, and left dozens displaced.
The Forum recalled that on March 17, at least 25 people were massacred in simultaneous explosions at the gate of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), the Monday Market Roundabout and the Post Office in Maiduguri, Borno State.
Subsequently, Boko Haram and ISWAP fighters have carried out coordinated coordinated attacks on military bases in different parts of Borno State, killing Major U. I. Mairiga who headed the Mayenti base; Commander of Kukawa base and the 101 Brigade, Lt-Col Umar Faruq; Commanding Officer of the 222 Battalion in Konduga, Lt-Col S.I. Iliyasu; Brigade Commander of the 29 Task Force Brigade Headquarters in Benisheikh, Brigadier General Oseni Omoh Braimah and the Commanding Officer of the 242 Battalion, Monguno, Col. I.A. Mohammed, also paid the supreme price.
The military has also intensified operations in high-risk locations, including the Sambisa Forest, the Timbuktu Triangle, the Mandara Mountains and the Lake Chad Basin. Scores of insurgent commanders and fighters had been killed during operations conducted across multiple fronts, with several major terrorist camps also destroyed.
The ACF noted that there is insurgency in the North-East, banditry and kidnappings in the North-West and North-Central, as well as farmer-herder conflicts, adding that these created a dangerous situation requiring urgent and decisive action.
It said “the scale, persistence and human cost of the violence demand a fundamental shift in national priorities,” adding that the crisis should no longer be treated as one of many governance issues but as the overriding national emergency.
The ACF lamented over the human toll of the crisis, saying hundreds of thousands of the citizens have been murdered and rendered homeless in Borno, Plateau, Niger and Kwara, among others, adding that the casualties also include senior officers and other members of the Armed Forces.
It noted that the escalating insecurity has caused families to be torn apart, destruction of livelihoods and instilled fears in entire communities, warning that the long-term social consequences could be devastating.
It said the economic implications of the insecurity, particularly on agriculture, which remains the backbone of the northern economy have been severely disrupted, contributing to food shortages, inflation and the collapse of rural economies.
The ACF called for the redirecting of national resources towards addressing insecurity which should not be seen as a setback to development, rather a necessary step to achieving sustainable growth.
