The chairman of the National Working Committee of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie says that as a leader, President Goodluck Jonathan has failed woefully.
He made the remark at the weekend as he spoke on behalf of the forum and other Northern Nigerian groups in an emergency meeting of the ACF in Kaduna.
A source at the meeting confided in SaharaReporters that in his opening remarks, Coomassie lamented that while it is the responsibility of the federal government to protect the lives and property of every citizen of the country, the reality of Nigeria today is different.
“The government of the day under the leadership of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has woefully failed to protect us,” he said.
"While the North is being battered, the people in government have not made serious effort to end it. For the first time in the history of this great nation, our President is being openly condemned for his ineptitude, immaturity and ineffectiveness.”
Coomassie stated that since the advent of the Boko Haram uprising in 2009, the North has witnessed a speedy descent into anarchy, adding that the insurgency and insecurity situation in the area is not what anyone ever imagined would happen to the Arewa that they all grew up to know, to love and to cherish.
"The Arewa that was bequeathed to us by our fore-fathers is no longer the same. Today the entire Northern region is under siege. The north is being attacked from all angles and from all fields. Now the general belief is that this government and its leadership do not like us. The current policies and the government attitude towards the insurgency leave us with no better conclusion than to assume that there is a deliberate plan or attempt to emasculate the north economically, to reduce us numerically, disunite us religiously and to divide us politically.
Given that grim situation, he said it was the responsibility of the leaders of Arewa to rise up to the occasion.
“The entire citizenry of the north looks up to us with so much hope,” he declared. “We must at this point bury our individual differences, come together and critically examine the situation before us. We must come out and speak with one united voice. We cannot afford to be seen to be divided.”
Members then went into a closed session.