Arewa group backs Northern Governors over United States peace and security parley

The Arewa New Frontiers (ANF) has thrown their weights behind the recent trip embarked upon by ten Northern Governors to the United States of America (USA) to explore avenues of tackling the security challenges bedevilling the northern part of the country.

ANF National Coordinator, Malam Abubakar Lawal at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday argued that the governors deserve support and encouragement to go to any other country under the sun to seek and find lasting solutions to the daily killings and bloodbath that has afflicted the the north over the past decade.

The group maintained that the visit would help build the capacity and understanding of the governors on what to do and how to effectively tackle this insecurity menace in a more modernized form with new ideas and modern weapons and security strategies that would be alien to men of the underworld in the North.

ANF frowned at the former Governor of Jigawa State Alhaji Sule Lamido who described the trip embarked upon by the Governors as not only a wasteful venture but an exercise in futility.

ANF contended that it is annoying that a person who has held the foreign affairs portfolio under President Olusegun Obasanjo would denigrate such an international fora meant to find solutions to our problems.

They noted: “It is a shame that he has lost touch with realities. How did he know NIPSS and ASCON were not contacted to find solutions to this challenges. He won’t know, because he is an analogue politician.

“It is a fact that the northern states especially the northwest have of recent been most hit by the dare devil activities of bandits and terrorists and the need to go as far as China or across the red sea to find solution to this blight should be a welcome idea instead of condemnation as no one holds the monopoly to knowledge.

“Perhaps the visit by the governors could help solve this long security challenge that has ravaged the north and held its people under siege. Nobody can deny the fact that the United States has some of the best security measures across the world and has a long history of helping other nations tackle insecurity effectively with contribution in both intellectual strategies, and weapons acquisition. And as the Katsina State Governor Dikko Radda one of the governors who was part of the visit rightly said ” sharing experiences and ideas on a global scale was crucial in today’s interconnected world.”