BY HENRY UMORU
ABUJA—SENATE President, Senator David Mark, Thursday, raised  the alarm that the level of insecurity in the North had become worrisome to Nigerians.

He also called on the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, to move in and restore peace.

Speaking yesterday in Abuja when he received a delegation of ACF Contact and Mobilisation Committee, ahead of the forthcoming conference, tagged “Sustainable Peace in the North,” being organised by the group to address the violence in the region, Mark told members of ACF, the umbrella socio-cultural body of the North, to work out a blueprint on how to end the orgy of violence bedevilling the nation.

He said the state of insecurity in the North, which has assumed a worrisome degree, requires a collaboration between the elders of the North and government, if there must be an end to the quagmire.

Senator Mark, who noted that violence had put both government and the governed in a difficult situation, stressed that no government would sit helpless and watch the unabating violence claiming lives and property.

The Senate President admitted that people might be aggrieved for whatever reason, but said “they must follow proper channel of dialogue and resolution rather than resort to violence.”

He said the continued violence in the North has denied the region meaningful and needed development.

He added:  “I am sure that the founding  fathers of the North will weep in their graves if they see what today’s violence has done to the region.

“We as the leaders of the Northern region must rise to stop this orgy of violence. You may not live in those areas but the death of every Nigerian resident in those placers is a loo to all Nigerians.”

On the proposed peace and unity conference, Senator Mark told all stakeholders to approach issues frankly and honestly, devoid of politics, saying “if we politicize it, it would end up like another talk show and that is not what we need now.

“We are all from different political background. We should not play politics with ACF. We should be honest, patriotic and nationalistic so that we can truly achieve the aim of the conference.”

Earlier, leader of the delegation, Ahmed Mohammed Gusau, who expressed grave concern about insecurity in the North, said “North that used to be known for peace has now become a harbinger of violence,”

Gusau said the conference would deliberate openly and frankly on the crisis in the North with a view to finding lasting solution to the violence, adding that the leaders of the North were very conscious of the fact that only a restoration of peace would guarantee progress, political and economic development as well as achieving the transformation agenda of the present administration.

The conference is billed for December 01, 2011 in Abuja.