- With 2014 confab report, no need for fresh dialogue, says Middle Belt
Southern governors’ resolutions at their meeting on Tuesday generated more nationwide reactions on Wednesday.
The northern sociopolitical group, the Arewa Consultative Forum, said that some of those advocating restructuring were bent on the disintegration of the country.
The group, however, supported the decision of the governors to ban open grazing of cattle.
But the Southern Senators and members of the House of Representatives commended the governors’ call for restructuring and the ban on open grazing.
The governors, had at their meeting in Asaba, the Delta State capital, banned open grazing and called on the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to take bold steps in restructuring the country.
They also called on the President to address the nation and convene a national dialogue.
ACF backs open grazing ban, calls on Buhari to address Nigerians, opposes restructuring
The National Publicity Secretary of the ACF, Emmanuel Yaw, faulted the call for restructuring, but supported other resolutions of the southern governors.
Yawe stated, “On restructuring, the ACF believes that before we take a decision on this, we should agree on whether Nigeria should remain one country before deciding on what
“Our position on this is informed by the fact that some of the advocates of restructuring are at the same time advocating the dissolution of Nigeria. Are they believers in Nigeria at all? We must all agree to let Nigeria be, before we move forward.”
He said there was nothing wrong for the President to address Nigerians on matters affecting the country.
The forum also said it supported the ban on open grazing, noting that the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, an umbrella body of the herders, had called for the establishment of ranches.
The ACF spokesman also said, “There is nothing wrong with their call on the President to talk to Nigerians. As a politician he should jump at any opportunity to communicate with the electorate.
“On the issue of ban on open grazing, I don’t think there is problem here with the stand of the ACF.
“At our last National Working Committee meeting in Kaduna, the national leader of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria spoke to us at length.
“He said he and his organisation had decided that the only way forward, and that in the interest of MACABAN, was to embark on ranching and that they were waiting for government’s policy.
“If MACABAN wants open grazing banned, not only in the southern part of Nigeria but all over Nigeria, who are we to say otherwise?
“On the issue of dialogue, the ACF has always believed in this if the aim of the dialogue is to promote the unity and progress of the whole country, our forum will hold dialogue with any state and group of people that share our cherished ideals of unity, justice, peace and progress.”
On its part, the Middle Belt Forum described as unnecessary the call by the southern governors for the President to convene a fresh national dialogue .
The National Publicity Secretary of the MBF, Dr Isuwa Dogo, who spoke to one of our correspondents in Jos on Wednesday, also faulted the call for the President to address the nation.
He insisted that asking the President to convene a fresh national dialogue would do the country no good, saying there were no issues that the fresh national dialogue would discuss that had not been addressed by the 2014 national conference.
According to the MBF spokesman, what the southern governors ought to have done was to insist that the President implement the provisions of the 2014 National Conference.
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