Insecurity worsening in North, ACF warns

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) on Wednesday raised fresh concerns over rising insecurity and humanitarian crises in the North, warning that terrorism, banditry and kidnapping are spreading across states and displacing communities.

Chairman of ACF, Mamman Mike Osuman (SAN), who spoke at the 79th National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the forum in Kaduna on Wednesday, said the region had continued to face “grave difficulties” since its last meeting in August 2025.

“Terrorism, armed banditry, insurgency, and kidnapping are on the rise, as witnessed in Kwara, Southern Kaduna, Katsina, Benue and other locations.

“The consequences have been devastating, with families and communities violently uprooted and displaced,” he said.

Osuman noted that the displacements had led to overcrowded camps and informal settlements with limited access to basic services, thereby increasing “the risks of malnutrition and mortality among survivors.”

He added that repeated attacks and the climate of fear had disrupted education, forcing the closure of schools in affected areas, while rural economies had been severely strained.

The ACF chairman urged state chapters of the forum to be proactive, stressing that its existence “must not be merely ceremonial or rhetorical; it must be principled, sincere, sacrificial, and action-driven.”

He said the forum must engage constructively with governments at national and subnational levels “in the pursuit of peace, stability, and the civil rehabilitation of our people.”

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