By Samuel Aruwan
Kaduna
Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) yesterday in Kaduna rose from an emergency meeting of its Rapid Response Committee on the state of the nation accusing President Goodluck Jonathan of displaying insensitivity in the Boko Haram insurgency in the North.
The Forum also noted that the action of the President and his wife on the abduction of over 200 female students and Nyanya bombings in Abuja was disappointing and unbecoming of their personalities.
It cautioned the National Assembly to be weary of the request to extend state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno, and Adamawa states.
In a statement by its secretary, Col. J.I.P. Ubah, it said: “The President did not approach the abduction issue with a sense of urgency and seriousness until ordinary Nigerians poured out on to the streets demanding greater action. The First Lady remained characteristically disruptive of all efforts by concerned Nigerians. Her reaction to the street protests was to set up her own panel of inquiry to which she summoned federal and state government officials, including wives of governors.
“We caution that the request before the National Assembly to approve the extension of the year-long state of emergency declared in the North-east states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, be considered against its impact so far, which can only be described as disastrous. Before the State of Emergency was declared in the three states, between 2009 and 2012, the total causalities of the insurgency were less than 1,500.
But this figure sky-rocketed to over 2,700 during the one year of the emergency, according to figures released by Amnesty International. During the emergency rule, Boko Haram had attacked and destroyed large swathe of areas in the North-east, including 18 towns and cities not counting schools, Mosques and Churches.”