The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has challenged Governor Bello Matawalle to name those behind the kidnapping of the 317 schoolgirls of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe.
The pan-Northern group stated this Tuesday through a statement signed by its Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbeh.
Recall that Matawalle had said that Nigerians would be shocked if he revealed those behind the kidnapping.
Matawalle stated this Sunday while playing host to 17 Emirs in the state who paid a sympathy visit on him over the abduction.
“As we await the arrival of the released kidnapped students of GSSS Jangebe at the Government House today, I want to inform you that there are many revelations in relation to the abduction of these students.
“Many people will be surprised to hear those people behind the abduction of these innocent children.
“They are not comfortable with the progress I am getting as a result of my peace initiative and they want to do all they can to sabotage my efforts.
“I will insha Allah succeed at the end of the day and they will bury their faces in shame,” Matawalle stated.
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Reacting, the ACF said it was “stunned” by the governor’s comment and embarrassed by the incessant cases of kidnappings in the North-West geopolitical zone.
It said that the security agencies must treat Matawalle as an accessory to kidnapping if he failed to reveal what he knows.
“The Arewa Consultative Forum ACF is stunned by a statement accredited to the Zamfara Governor, Bello Matawalle.
“The governor is reported in the media to have told 17 Emirs who paid a sympathy visit to him on the kidnap of 317 school girls from Government Girls Secondary School Jangebe in Talata Mafara that he knew the identity of the kidnappers & if he revealed their identity, Nigerians will be shocked.
“We ask the governor to reveal their identity and let Nigerians be shocked or even the heavens fall.
“We also ask the security agencies to question the governor on the identifies of the criminals he is trying to hide. If he refuses to disclose their identities, he must be treated as an accomplice to the criminal act of kidnapping.
“The ACF has been embarrassed by the spate of kidnappings especially of school children spreading like wild fire all over the north.
“People in positions of authority that will help us out of this mess like Governor Mutawalle must stop embarrassing the north and country with careless statements on a serious issue like the kidnappings of school children.
“Zamfara State and the north are way behind the rest of the country in educational development. The serial kidnappings of school pupils in the north will only worsen a bad and unacceptable state of education in the North,” the ACF statement read.