By AMINU JAHUN

Kaduna, the North’s regional capital, recently hosted ACF’s silver jubilee celebrations. The scary state of the North should have made the anniversary a less celebratory and self adulatory exercise, and more of a prayerful and self criticism  exploration.“When a large swath of the North is an ungoverned space, there is need for prayers for the region, and self criticism by regional elites and the foremost socio cultural organisation in the North: are ACF’s objectives too ambitious to be achieved?

And could the organisation rub shoulders with other socio-cultural organisations in reach and acceptability, fostering regional unity, peace and developmental impact ? What is ACF’s greatest undoing? The ACF is regarded by many a pundit as a competitive outfit, a belated but welcome reaction by Northern elites to the socio cultural and political impact of Afenifere and Ohanaeze Ndigbo in the South-West and South-East. But whether proactively or reactively midwifed, there is no Northerner or a genuine Northern friend, except its incorrigible fifth columnists and cynics who would pick holes with ACF’s laudable objectives.

Conceived and brought forth into existence when the euphoria of the displacement of the military from power by a supposedly life more abundant, pro-human rights, people-friendly, less  corrupt regime was high, the ACF could extravagantly set tall objectives and  ambitious vision for itself. The adversarial religiosity and intractable ethnic conflicts baggage, reinforcing the stereotypes of incompatibilities of faiths and ethnicities, reviving struggles against real or imaginary domination, amplified and exploited by local liberators- push regional unity further away.

Elites disaggregations and detachment from the wider Northern project, sustained aloofness from the developmental needs of the region, escalating banditry and bad governance have negatively impacted on the regional economy, inhibiting growth and development. And a lucrative terror war economy, manufacturing overnight nouveau riches, has raised the stakes for regional insecurity, making peace and stability a mirage in the North.

Two and a half decades of a dysfunctional  democracy have turned the tide against the high spirit and hopes in the democratic current, reinforcing the cumulative baggage militating against the realisation of ACF’s goals. ACF attempted to change the narrative, reduce, and if possible reverse some of the damning numbers generated by disunity and insecurity. Last year it inaugurated its unity, peace and reconciliation and security committees.

A year after, Boko Haram insurgents have become more daring, school children are more vulnerable than they were a year ago, and intergroup relations have worsened in the central Nigerian area.  In its earlier years, the ACF didn’t assert itself as the socio- cultural saviour of the North from misrule, disunity, insecurity, federal tyranny, etc. Its pioneer  leadership kowtowed to subnational power, moving from one government house to another, warming itself to the state Governors indulged in what Dr Umar Ardo calls elite networking, sealing private deals rather than advancing Northern interests.

Unlike the ACF, Afenifere evolved into the foremost socio- political force in the South-West such that there could hardly be any political cake- from restructuring, fiscal federalism, June 12 struggles, formation of Alliance for Democracy, AD, etc,- that could be baked in the South-West without its imprimatur. Unlike ACF that warms itself to power, Afenifere commands sub-national power, whilst Ohanaeze directs it to advance regional interests.

There could hardly be an individual in South-West or South-East that could venture into presidential contest without the prior blessings of Afenifere or Ohanaeze Ndigbo, with commitments to actualise their regional agendas if voted into power. And none of their elected officials – even if he is Nigeria’s president- could rule without their policy  inputs.

With its known commitment to the  accelerated development of the South-West, one could discern an Afenifere imprimatur on some of the policies of the PBAT administration . If the ACF or the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, had such a leverage with the Buhari administration, the Northern narrative wouldn’t have been as scary as it is today.

Neither Afenifere nor Ohanaeze would have allowed the North to be the beneficiary of an uncompleted presidential tenure zoned to their regions without a big political fight, as the late President Yar’Adua’s uncompleted tenure was surrendered to the South-South with least resistance from the North. And unlike ACF that is yet to have a developmental blueprint for the North, Afenifere has an undeniable stamp on the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria, DAWN, an ambitious regional development initiative set to replicate the giant strides the Awolowo-led Action Group administration made in the West.

Is there anything wrong with ACF’s reach and acceptability, capacity to broker peace between belligerent communities, shape or influence policies, such that its goals are yet to be fully realised a quarter of a century after its formation?“And there is need to interrogate Northern unity, reflected in two elitist parallel socio-cultural organisations- the ACF and NEF – playing identical roles, speaking for the  same North, promoting its interests, fighting its woes, etc, a disturbing  reflection of Northern elites divisiveness and incompatibility to jointly fight a common cause. One would hardly be surprised that the South- West and South-East are less divided than the North. Was Northern unity forced in the First Republic such that it can’t be reproduced again?

ACF’s greatest undoing is its aloofness from political engagements, its costly refusal to be an unputdownable regional and national political stakeholder. ACF or any other socio-cultural organisation could hardly shape or influence policies beneficial to the North without a quantum leap from its socio-cultural intervention trajectory to the political turf , to become intensely political without being partisan like Afenifere some of the times and Ohanaeze most of the times.

• Jahun, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Dutse, the Jigawa State capital.