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ACF vows continued support for Tinubu-Shettima administration
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), a prominent quasi-political and socio-cultural group in the north has pledged continuous support to the administration of president Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima.
During a courtesy visit to the Vice President at the presidential villa in Abuja, ACF leaders conveyed this commitment while presenting an invitation for the Forum’s 25th anniversary celebration.
Bashir Dalhatu, who chairs the ACF Board of Trustees, praised the collaborative relationship between President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima, as well as other northerners serving in the administration.
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“For us northerners, the Vice President is our number one ambassador. His image is carrying our spirit, our image, our aspiration, and we have noticed that he has brought it into this administration.
“He has supported the president a 100 percent. We are very proud of the support he and all our sons and daughters are giving to this government,” The ACF BoT Chairman said.
Dalhatu emphasized the ACF’s dedication to ensuring the success of President Tinubu’s government.
“They are excellent ambassadors. We are proud of them and we shall continue to support them. But, we shall also continue to point out to them areas that we think we can make improvement to the benefit of all Nigerians not just to the north,” Bashir added.
The organization was founded in 2000 with the objective of advancing the political interests of northern Nigerians.
When discussing the Forum’s achievements, Dalhatu outlined various interventions undertaken by the ACF in both the north and across Nigeria.
“When the forum was established in the year 2000, there were quite a few numbers of other socio-cultural organisations. But the leadership at that time – the governors, the emirs and chiefs, the sultan and everybody – the leadership of the north met together and said let us create one single organization that can unite our people, and then move on in the same spirit and unite the country. We have done so.
“We have intervened in many areas of conflict in the north. We have given advice. We have written papers. We have visited and discussed. We have even intervened in many areas of economic development and social intervention programmes. We hope to carry forward this attitude.
“Before ACF came in, there were so many areas of conflict in the north. Even though they have not finished completely, but we have succeeded in reducing a lot of it, and now, I think everybody can see the difference.
“Two, we have continued to propagate and sensitize people on how best to be self-reliant, and how best to join efforts to create a good economy for northern Nigeria, and consequently move in to contribute in the development of the economy of this country.”
According to the ACF leadership, the silver jubilee anniversary will serve as an opportunity to strengthen peace and unity across Nigeria’s diverse regions and ethnic groups for national advancement.
“We are creating this occasion to create goodwill, peace and good wishes to Nigerians. We have invited other socio-cultural organisations in the south, like the Afinifere, the PANDEF and the Ohaneze Ndi-Igbo, so that they can come and share with us this happy moment of spending 25 years in progress, and hope to also visit and learn from all walks of life of Nigerians on how best to continue to keep this country together united as one indivisible nation in progress,” Dalhatu said.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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