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AYV, KEEC allege internal, external plots
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Ex Kogi gov Bello named in the plot
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No he’s not part of it – ACF member
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Why Aduku was removed – ACF Spokesman.
By Mustapha Femi
On the 16th of May 2023, the formidable pro-Northern Nigeria socio-cultural group, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), named the former President of the Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA), Gabriel Yakubu Aduku as its new helmsman.
Seven months after, the newly minted ACF chairman was removed in controversial circumstances. Officially, ACF position adduced institutional procedure for the Chairman’s removal, while some stakeholders believed it was underhand political schemes from his home state of Kogi that consumed Aduku.
On assumption of office, Aduku promised to take the organization to the next level, stressing that he would deploy all within his capacities for the progress of the ACF.
Aduku stated that his commitment to the course will be total, while noting that he will do everything possible to ensure that he sustained the vision of the founding fathers of Northern Nigeria and the nation at large.
This brought excitement not only to the Forum but to the North in general. Many were quick to conclude that a new era of the late Chief Sunday Awoniyi had resurfaced and the forum was positioned for new positive results.
But that expectation was cut short. Chief Aduku only spent seven months in office before he was consumed by Politics and, tricks that were both internal and external.
His tenure ended abruptly on the 12th of December 2023 after a joint meeting of the Board of Trustees (BoT), National Executive Council (NEC) held in Kaduna where the removal of Chief Aduku was announced.
The National President of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), a stakeholder in the politics of ACF and the North, Alhaji Yerima Shettima while reacting to the removal of Chief Aduku said himself and the youth that make up the vast population of the North were not in any way disturbed about the removal of Chief Aduku.
According to him, it was a good thing that ACF took the decision earlier because leading a formidable organization such as an umbrella body, one must be seen to have a good antecedent.
Alhaji Yerima Shettima opined that a leader of a respectable Forum like ACF must be seen to be nonpartisan because it is a purely socio-cultural organization.
“He must be seen to be of high integrity because no matter how you look at it, image matters in the leadership of any organization that will have to excel, whether small or big.
“ACF is a very big organization that we are all looking up to, unfortunately, you have a chairman who is perceived to be influenced by ethnicity, and degrades himself.
“If I had a choice to fight against him becoming the chairman, I would have done it because his antecedent does not in any way portray him to be a good leader.
“He was the former minister, what happened to his regime before he left office? He was a short-serving minister as far as Nigeria is concerned because he had the problem of lack of integrity, and transparency, and was overclouded by ethnicity.
“I feel that, for me, ACF has done well. They have done very well to have removed him and brought somebody who we believe will do better than him,” he said.
Just like Alhaji Yerima Shettima, the removal of Chief Aduku did not come as a surprise to Barrister Kola Ajibade who said the body language of Arewa Youth Vanguard (AYV) in the media in the last three months pointed to one fact that all is not well with the leadership of Chief Aduku.
The Arewa Youth Vanguard had sustained the protest against forces inside and outside of the ACF who were suspected to be desperately plotting to remove Aduku for their own vested interests.
Barrister Ajibade questioned who even knew Arewa Youth Vanguard. He argued that they were just an organization that will just emerge overnight and come out for one reason or the other after being sponsored by somebody somewhere with peanuts and just come out with any position or statement. “I’m not bothered about them”, he said.
The Arewa Youth Vanguard on the 6th of December, via its National Leader and General Secretary, Alh. Abdulsamad Babayo, and Kazayat Aminu, had cautioned the ACF to not fall victim to the antics of then outgoing governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello in his alleged plot to tarnish the peace of the group.
The Youth Vanguard added that their attention had been drawn to the plots, allegedly of Alhaji Yahaya to cause division in the group.
“This comes after an attempt to remove the newly instated chairman, Arc. Gabriel Aduku from his office due to some grievances in the past.
“Our attention has been drawn to overt and covert measures orchestrated by Alhaji Yahaya Bello, the outgoing Governor of Kogi State to mortally injure the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) through the unwarranted attempt to remove Chief Arc. Gabriel Aduku, its Chairman who assumed the office only recently.”
In the same vein, the Kogi East Elders Council (KEEC) had also alleged that the now former state governor, Yahaya Bello was at the time planning for the removal of Gabriel Aduku as the chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF).
The Council, in a statement by its secretary, Alphonsus Alhassan, cautioned the ACF against playing into the Governor’s plot.
“The attention of the Kogi East Elders Council (KEEC) has been drawn to the clandestine moves orchestrated by Yahaya Bello, the former Governor of Kogi State, to mortally injure the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) through the unwarranted attempt to cause the premature and ill-advised removal of its Chairman, Chief (Arc) Gabriel Yakubu Aduku who assumed the office of the august organization only recently.
“The Governor’s (ex) grouse with Chief Gabriel Aduku (who also doubles as the Acting Chairman, Kogi East Elders’ Council, (KEEC) was his visit to the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, shortly before the November 11, 2023 off-season election in Kogi state to request among others, the beefing up of security in the North and particularly, Kogi State, which was sliding into a state-tolerated anarchy.”
From the above narrative, it is obvious that the sack Of Chief Aduku is not sudden but it was a long, well-orchestrated plot by those who conceived the idea.
Meanwhile, when asked for the reason behind Arc Aduku’s sudden removal as the ACF Chairman, the National Publicity Secretary of the Forum Prof. Muhammad-Baba said, “No ACF Chairman was “elected” as such. A set of persons were selected and presented, but were never inaugurated.”
Prof. Muhammad-Baba said: “The list was reviewed by ACF’s Leadership Selection Committee; it is the final list that was now presented, approved by the joint Assembly & inaugurated.
“Whosoever that wasn’t inaugurated today simply didn’t make it in the final list as presented by the Leadership Selection Committee
“There is a little change in the leadership of the forum. Foremost, before the meeting the endorsement of new leadership for ACF, “ he said
No matter what happened in the hallowed Chamber of the National Secretariat of the ACF at Sokoto Road in Kaduna, for Alhaji Yerima what matters to him was what was before the North, which was that Aduku had been removed and the Forum has to move forward.
“I have not seen any third party hand in the case at all, because I see them making moves to involve the governor of Kogi State.
“As far as I’m concerned, the governor of Kogi State is a highly principled somebody.
“Ordinarily, I couldn’t have been expecting him to just say that he wants to remove somebody as his kinsman, having gotten to a level of the apex organization of Northern Nigeria.
“So for me, I have not seen his hand in the whole thing but even if he’s involved, he did the right thing but he’s not involved in getting his hand into these dirty games.”
Authenticating this, Pastor David Katung of God Divine House said Chief Aduku himself knew his time as the Chairman of ACF was up and that was why he refused to attend the joint meetings that announced his removal.
According to him, there is still more to unfold concerning the removal of Chief Aduku.
“To me, Aduku shot himself in the foot and I only pray he comes out of this unscathed “ he said.
