The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has urged the Federal Government to urgently end the wave of deadly attacks on defenceless communities in Plateau State, describing the recent killings as deeply tragic and unacceptable.
In a statement on Sunday, April 6, signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Prof. T. A. Muhammad-Baba, the forum expressed grief over the March 28 attacks in Bokkos and Mangu local government areas, where several lives, including children, were lost.
“ACF deeply mourns the dead and unequivocally condemns the attacks,” the statement read. “The Forum particularly extends sympathy and condolence to the affected communities, the Government and people of Plateau State.
“The Forum identifies with the deep pains of families of the victims, prays to God to grant the deceased eternal rest, for surviving victims to be fortified with strength to bear the losses and for quick return to full health for all who suffered injuries.”
The group said it was “ineffably saddened” by the violence, adding that it worsens the “dismal statistics” of lives lost, injuries sustained, and property destroyed in northern Nigeria in recent years.
Calling on the federal authorities to take immediate responsibility, the forum noted: “To the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), constitutionally responsible for the protection of lives and properties of citizens, ACF wishes to draw attention, for the umpteenth time, to the deterioration in the state of security in Arewa communities and elsewhere in Nigeria.”
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It continued, “ACF reiterates its long-standing stance that every new such experiences is one too many. Clearly, the people are in great pains, with their situation compounded by existential economic challenges.”
Emphasising the need for urgent intervention, the ACF said: “The killing spree on the Plateau must be stopped immediately, and peace must return to the State. In the future, ACF calls on the FGN to declare a state of security emergency on vulnerable and banditry-prone communities and to initiate effective early-warning and early-response strategies that incorporate the participation of community members.”
The statement further urged the government to intensify intelligence gathering and deployment by security agencies, investigate and prosecute perpetrators, compensate families of the deceased and assist the injured, empower local leaders and civil society groups to lead peace dialogues
It also called on citizens to share credible information with security forces and pressed the National Assembly to hold the federal government and its security institutions accountable.
“Members of the National Assembly [must] do more to hold the FGN and the National Security Agencies to account and to demand concrete evidence of a firm resolve to exterminate the current terror on citizens,” the ACF concluded.