Posted by By KENNY ASHAKA, Kaduna on
Former factional chairman of the Alliance for Democratic (AD), Usman Adamu Song has slammed the Northern socio-cultural group, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), saying the body is not a credible and cannot speak for the North.
Former factional chairman of the Alliance for Democratic (AD), Usman Adamu Song has slammed the Northern socio-cultural group, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), saying the body is not a credible and cannot speak for the North.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Daily Sun in Kaduna, Song described the statement credited to the ACF on the Niger Delta crisis as reckless and inciting.
The ACF had in statement recently said the leaders of the Niger-Delta were responsible for the problems facing the people of the region, having allegedly not deployed moneys released for the development the area for the benefit of all.
However, Song, a northerner from Adamawa State shot back as the ACF and asked the South-South people to ignore the statement as, according to him, it did not represent the true feelings of the people about the problems in the Niger Delta.
He said the view of the ACF which had generated controversy should be regarded as coming from self-appointed leaders of the North.
According to him, there were other credible groups in the North whose views were different from those of 'self-appointed" leaders who made reckless statements that were being used to judge the Arewa.
Song said the problem of the Niger Delta was not that of the people of the area alone since what happened there affected the whole country.
'The people of Niger Delta are Nigerians and Niger Delta is in Nigeria. Their suffering should be a thing of concern to all regardless of region, tribe, religion or whatever. Unguarded statements that will inflame passion cannot help the issue.
'I am calling on President Yar'Adua not to tread the path of these self-appointed Northern leaders who are imposing their views on the people of the region. I am personally opposed to the statement and I know a lot of people who are not happy with the statement.
'Yar'Adua should work with the stakeholders. If he must succeed in averting the crisis there, then he must listen to the stakeholders. There is no way he (Yar'Adua) can succeed without listening to them," he said.
Song wanted those he described as 'professional trouble makers" in the North to re-examine themselves and work in tandem with other Nigerians for the interest of the nation.
'Yar'Adua should ignore the vituperations of a few Northerners who think they can impose their views on us. We want a unified Nigeria, not a Nigeria where people will not be free in some parts of their country," he said.