The mouthpiece of the North, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has tackled the Federal Government over Monday’s train terror attack in Kaduna.
ACF said it was tired of crying over insecurity in the region, stating that the north is clearly under siege.
The apex body, in a statement by its Secretary-General, Mallam Murtala Aliyu, called on the Federal Government to revisit the security architecture with a view to protecting lives as the current structure has failed.
The Forum lamented banditry and terrorism have excised the North with major economic activities frustrated, warning it was a new ploy to block Kaduna, which is the main gateway to the North.
Parts of the statement titled: ‘North is under siege’ reads: “As a guardian and custodian of the welfare and integrity of the North, the ACF is tired of crying out on the issue of security, and other challenges, in the northern part of the country.
“It is curious that a train carrying almost 1000 (one thousand) passengers be exposed to the kind of situation we found, on the fateful Monday evening, without any precautionary measures taken. It would be recalled that, some few months ago, there was a blast on the same route, and the government promise on taking a concrete measure to avert any future occurrence, is yet to materialise.
“Moreover, the fact that both air and rail systems, out of Kaduna, have been compromised, it is to be expected that a sensitive government should protect the only route (Kaduna/Abuja highway).
“The ACF has described as unacceptable, the frequency of such attacks on our towns and villages, highways and now train tracks and airports.”
It added: “The ACF cautions on what it terms as unnecessary attacks that stretch our security and economic services in the country. One can, easily, recall how the lives and economy of the Borno, Zamfara, Sokoto, Niger, and Kaduna (Birnin Gwari and Southern parts of Kaduna) were damaged, and now, taking their turn on the infrastructure.
“The Arewa Consultative Forum calls on government to put 24-hour surveillance on the route to at least avert the ugly situations occurring. ACF equally, prevails on the AZMAN and Air Peace airlines to have a rethink over their resolve to suspend flights to Kaduna International Airport. Such action contributes, negatively, to the resolve of the problems.”