BY EMEKA MAMAH
EMINENT Northern leaders yesterday rose from a meeting in Asokoro,  Abuja deploring the worsening security situation in the country and backed calls for restructuring of the polity. They hoped that the lopsidedness in the structure of the nation’s politics and economy would be addressed.

Known as  Coalition of Concerned Northerners (CCN), the leaders condemned the activities of Boko Haram Islamic sect, which claimed to be carrying out a Jihad to Islamize the country and had in the process killed over 2,000 Nigerians, saying that  Boko Haram was threatening northern unity.

In a statement by Dr Junaid Muhammad (convener), the leaders, which included Governors of Niger and Jigawa states, Dr Muazu Aliyu Babangida and Alhaji Sule Yuguda, respectively; former Senate President, Dr Iyorcha Ayu; former deputy Senate President, Dr John Wash-Pam; former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed; former Ministers  Dr Shettima Mustapha, Alhaji Adamu Maina Waziri and Mallam Lawal Batagarawa; and former Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council, Prof. Nur Alkali, however, decried alleged excesses of the military Joint Task Force, JTF, in its fight against Boko Haram murderous activities since 2009.

Other members of the coalition included the former Chairman of Langtang South Local Government Council in Plateau State, Mr Solomon Dalung, former Presidential Legal Advisers- Ibrahim Ismail and Prof Awwalu Yadudu as well as Mr Sam Nda- Isaiah, publisher of Leadership Newspapers; Mallam Mohammed Haruna, Professors Abubakar Rasheed, Risqua Arabu Sokoto and businessmen like the Chairman of Main-street Bank, Alhaji Falalu Bello, former Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission, Hamman Tukur, former Solicitor General of the Federation, Professor Ignatius Ayua, Prof. David Iyornem and Alhaji Dahiru Mohammed, former managing director of the New Nigerian Newspapers, NNN.

Also in attendance were the first female Editor of the NNN, Mrs Aisha Kabiru Yusuf, Dr Bashir Kurfi of  the Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria,  and Timaus Matthias, a veteran journalist;  former President of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Mallam Abba Gana, former Deputy Director of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG, Alhaji Shehu Kaikai, Sanusi Abubakar, Garba Shehu, Mr Simon Gunkat, Mallam Adamu Yakubu, Mr Zannah Mustapha, Mallam Sambo Ingawa, Kalli Ghazali, Abubakar Michika and Professor Abubakar Mustapha.

Discussing the  current security challenges occasioned by Boko Haram’s bomb attacks and killings, the resurgent activities of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, other Niger Delta militant groups, the Movement for the Survival of Biafra, MASSOB, and the current calls for for Sovereign National Conference, SNC, the leaders said they were in support of restructuring Nigeria.

The statement read in part:  ‘’In the course of the meeting, the Northern Group reflected on the deteriorating security situation in the region, particularly with regards to the growth and spread of attacks and impunity by the Boko Haram insurgents and other ethnic and religious militants in the North.
’’In addition, the meeting dwelt on the threats posed by the resurgent activities of MEND, other Niger Delta militant groups and MASSOB. In addition, the meeting dwelt on the threats and recent calls by groups for SNC. The meeting reflected on the elements that bound the Northerners and their cultures together, irrespective of ethnicity and religion over many years at (of) their association , and their sadness that the basis of unity of the region has of recent come under a serious assault.
’’The meeting noted the positive fallouts of the recent nationwide strike, in the course of which the ordinary people of the North, and of the rest of the country manifested a refreshing desire to support and protect one another against the clear evidence of orchestrated designs tp,polarise and keep the people apart.

‘’The meeting also received the shocking details of the several excesses of the JTF, which amounted to no less than gross human rights abuses. The meeting expressed the view that the threat posed by Boko Haram insurgency could best be attended to without the attendant attacks on individual rights and or businesses.

‘’The meeting resolved to support the calls for the restructuring of the Nigerian federation in the hope that the lopsidedness in the structure of the nation’s politics and economy will be a key agenda issue.

‘’It then called on the Northern Governors’ Forum, NGF, to liaise with other stakeholders in the north, such as the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, the Northern Union, NU, Jama’atul Nasril Islam, JNI, the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, women, youth and student bodies and other groups to join hands and tackle the identified threats confronting the region.’’