RESTRUCTURING: The challenge before northern Nigeria –Ahmadu Bello Foundation

Following the mounting agitation for restructuring and separation, the Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation, has said that Nigeria is at a crossroads and urged the North not to dismiss the growing demands or regard them as mere developmental challenges.

The foundation said the challenge before the North now is to find the “appropriate, well-guided response to the myriads of issues surrounding the nation” and not to discard them for whatever they stand for.

This was stated by the chairman of the foundations’s Advisory Council, Justice Mamman Nasir, on Monday when the foundation paid a courtesy visit to the Governor of Narasawa State, Tanko Al-Makura, in Lafia.

He said, “Nigeria is currently at a stage we may call crossroads, particularly, the challenge is for the North to find the appropriate, well-guided response to the myriads of issues surrounding the nation. Most importantly, we cannot dismiss the calls for the restructuring for whatever that stands for, and the desires and threats of some groups to dismember the country as mere developmental challenges.

“The irritating reappearances of the Boko Haram, even with the dogged commitment of the Nigerian Army to end the insurgency for good, are also of concern, similarly the pervading hate speech through the social media that has engulfed our youths in particular has dangerous religious and sectional colours and needs to be urgently attended to resolutely and with tact.”

According to Nasir, the Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation’s chief goal was to make sure that peace and unity prevailed in the North, which he said were the virtues the late Sir Ahmadu Bello stood and worked for during his lifetime.

Al-Makura, in his response described late Ahmadu Bello as a leader that worked round the clock to see there was peace and unity not just in the North alone but also in the entire country. He added that the hate speeches and youth restiveness which characterize the present Nigeria were alien to the North as the people were united under one leader in the days of Ahmadu Bello

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