From Noah Ebije Kaduna

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has sounded a fresh alarm over spiralling insecurity across Northern Nigeria, warning that terrorism, banditry, insurgency and kidnapping are tightening their grip on communities and pushing the region toward deeper humanitarian crisis.

The consequences have been devastating,” Osuman declared. “Families and communities have been violently uprooted and displaced.”

According to him, repeated attacks have forced residents into overcrowded camps and informal settlements with little access to food, healthcare or other basic services, heightening the risk of malnutrition and death among survivors.

Schools have been shut in several affected areas, rural economies crippled, and farming, travel and healthcare access severely disrupted by fear.

“Insecurity has deepened to such an extent that external military assistance has been required,” he said, underscoring what he described as a grave and expanding crisis.

Osuman criticised political actors who, he said, are more preoccupied with strategising for the 2027 elections than addressing hunger, poverty, out-of-school children and the wave of violent attacks ravaging communities.

“This election season has produced convoluted groups whose focus is not on out-of-school children, hunger, poverty, frequent attacks by kidnappers, banditry or terrorism, but rather on repositioning ahead of 2027,” he said.

The ACF chairman urged elected and appointed leaders to reconnect with the realities on the ground and align more closely with the Forum’s aspirations for peace, stability and rehabilitation of affected communities.

He called on ACF state chapters to move beyond rhetoric and become more proactive in engaging governments at all levels to push for urgent security reforms and civil rehabilitation efforts.

Our existence must not be merely ceremonial or rhetorical,” Osuman said. “It must be principled, sincere, sacrificial and action-driven.”

Beyond security, the Forum also moved to strengthen its internal governance by proposing a nine-member Code of Conduct and Ethics Committee, headed by Prof. Nuhu Jamo, a constitutional law expert and legal consultant to the National Assembly.

As the region approaches another election cycle, Osuman stressed the need for peaceful and credible polls, urging citizens to uphold civic responsibility while demanding accountability and practical solutions from leaders.