Raphael Kalu
The Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, has berated the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, led by President Bola Tinubu for being more obsessed with unprecedented early campaigns, defections to its fold and other maneuvers for re-election in 2027, than addressing the security challenges and other existential problems confronting the nation.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Professor Muhammad-Baba, ACF lamented that public policy responses to the insecurity situation, especially in the northern part of the country, had remained ineffective, even as profligacy and reckless expenditures by public officials were in contrast to sacrifices by citizens.
ACF stated: “A most perverse illustration of reckless profligacy of public expenditure has been the revelation about insertions in the 2025 federal budget, for the provision of streetlights at a staggering and unimaginable costs of over N260 million each.
“That there has to date been no official denial of such crassly reckless and surreal insertions attests to the insensitivity of public officials and political representatives to the plight of ordinary Nigerians, whose living conditions continue to deteriorate all round.
“Going by precedent, such budgetary insertions are replicated in various ways at state level. As ACF observed a year ago, the existential challenges above are symptomatic of fundamental malaise in the political economy calling for urgent public policy attention.
“Delusional hubris and head-in-the-sand claims continue to characterise pronouncement by officials charged with responsibilities for security in contrast to cries of state governors on ground in locations. ‘’Such obsessions and claims only ignore or give blind eyes to possible mass disillusionment, despair, discontent, hopelessness and angst of the populace.
“That Nigerians continue to endure and could even celebrate occasions such as the Eid is a telling testament to their admirable resilience, which ought not to be taken for granted.’’
The forum also felicitated with the Muslim communities in Nigeria on the occasion of Eid-el-Kabir celebration, describing it as solemn reminders of the need for humanity’s values of sacrifice, fellowship and devotion in appreciation of Almighty God’s benevolence.
It noted that the Eid-el-Kabir celebration came amid struggles under economic-cum-existential challenges, ranging from dire costs of living expenses, inflation, to rapid deterioration in the value of wages and salaries, among others.
ACF, however, praised Nigerians over their resilience, asserting that national challenges as enumerated by the forum, could be overcome by the entrenchment of the principles of good governance in public officials at local, state and federal levels.