The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has debunked insinuations of endorsing suggestions for amnesty and payments to terrorists and bandits.
The News Agency of Nigerian (NAN) reports that a video clip trending on social media of the ACF Board of Trustees Chairman, Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu, alleged the endorsement of amnesty by the organisation.
‘’The insinuation must have emanated from a recent interview granted to Arise News by Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu, Wazirin Dutse, Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT) of the ACF.
‘’Even at that, the piece in circulation was taken out of context, truncated and mischievously abstracted to reach some predetermined conclusion(s), especially as being publicised by some clandestine and shadowy individuals or group(s).
‘’Mercifully, the full interview is available on digital platforms, easily accessible to anyone interested in the full details.’’
A statement by ACF National Publicity Secretary, Prof. T. A. Muhammad-Baba, disclosed that Dalhatu only spoke mostly in his personal capacity and only sporadically alluded to official perspectives.
‘’Second, right at the start of the interview, he had assertively and emphatically condemned the spate of terrorist activities in Nigeria and elsewhere in West Africa.
‘’He went on to call for the total annihilation of the terrorists and bandits and, thereby, the pervasive state of insecurity in Nigeria within the shortest period possible.
‘’Farther in the interview, he was unequivocal in emphasising that absolutely no one in the North, or Nigeria, is happy about the insecurity imbroglio, nor trying to shield bandits and other non-state actors perpetrating mayhem against people, as often wildly suggested.’’
Muhammad-Baba said Dalhatu’s allusion to the Niger Delta Amnesty Programme was in suggesting that all kinetic and non-kinetic pathways to dealing with the insecurity problem be employed by the government.
He added that Dalhatu then alluded to the variants of late President Yarádua’s approach to solving the Niger Delta crisis.
‘’He did not categorically propose the unadulterated application of the same pathway, stating that anyone suggesting such solutions was only stating an opinion.
‘’Finally, nowhere in the interview did Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu refer to the terrorists and bandits with their primordial characteristics such as ethnicity, religion, etc.
‘’Conclusions or impressions that suggest otherwise remain the vile reactions of some mischievous, clandestine and shadowy group(s) and/or individual(s).’’
The ACF spokesman said that at no time has the organisation called for any amnesty in favour of any terrorists or bandits and therefore rejects any insinuation to the contrary.
He pledged the organisation’s full support to the Government and the security agencies in their various endeavours to stamp out the scourge of terrorism and banditry in Nigeria.
(NAN)
