As part of ongoing efforts to harmonise a common front before the 2015 general elections and also end the crippling insecurity in the region, members of Northern Elders Forum (NEF), National Security Adviser (NSA) and Northern Traditional Rulers Council were yesterday locked in a closed door meeting in Kaduna for hours.
We gathered that NEF, which has been championing the battle to return presidency to the North, is set to woo traditional rulers, while NSA, Sambo Dasuki, is expected to collaborate with traditional institutions to end the endemic insecurity in the region.
Speaking at the opening ceremony before the closed door session, Chairman, Northern Traditional Rulers and Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, indicted northern governors for not doing enough in developing the region.
According to the Sultan, “In our quest to develop the North, because we are Northern leaders first, we always try to reach out to our political leaders. I want to put it on record here that even last year, we presented a position paper to the Northern Governors’ Forum on the way forward to reduce the suffering of our people on lack of education, insecurity and all sort of things.
“The paper has been given to them and I want to draw the attention of the Northern Governors’ Forum that we are yet to hear anything on that paper we gave them. They should reach out to us to brief us, so that we can continue to contribute on how to really sustain peace and development of the north,” he said.
Speaking at the gathering, Governor Ramallan Yero of Kaduna, called on the “royal fathers not to relent in your efforts at evolving workable conflict resolution models. The time has come for us to work as partners towards reuniting our people for the purpose of facing the massive developmental hurdles bedeviling our progress as a people.”
Yero said, “As government, we are ready and our doors are open to suggestions that will help actualise our objectives of building lasting peace and security in Kaduna State and the entire nation.”
On his part, Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger, represented by his deputy, Ahmed Musa Ibeto, said Nigeria was passing through one of the most difficult times in its post-independent experience, adding “when political and electoral tension, social and economic insecurity, communal conflicts and civil unrest have reached unprecedented levels, they require the collective dedication of all.”
Credits: Daily Newswatch