The Middle Belt Forum (MBF) has strongly opposed the decision by Northern governors to contribute N1billion monthly each towards the establishment of the Northern Nigeria Security Trust Fund (NNSTF).
Mr Luka Binniyat, the MBF spokesman, in a statement made available to DAILY POST in Kaduna on Tuesday, said: “The MBF position is that instead of creating another regional fund, each governor should use his state’s contribution to directly strengthen security in his home state.”
He added: “While we support the establishment of State Police and also appreciate every sincere effort aimed at ending terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other violent crimes across the country, we strongly oppose the decision of Northern governors to commit huge monthly contributions into this fund.”
He noted that the Middle Belt had suffered the greatest human and material losses from the long years of violence across Northern Nigeria, saying that thousands of innocent men, women and children had been killed, hundreds of communities destroyed, millions of hectares of farmland abandoned, while countless families now live as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
“The painful truth is that throughout these years of bloodshed, the Northern States Governors’ Forum has rarely spoken with one voice to condemn the repeated massacres of Middle Belt communities,” the statement lamented.
The spokesman alleged that many victims had never received solidarity visits from the governors despite suffering some of the worst atrocities in Nigeria’s history. He further alleged that the MBF believed the NNSTF was a “well-crafted design” by the Sokoto Caliphate and Borno
