ACF To Monitor Soldiers In States Under Emergency Rule

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF)  stated its desire to raise a team that would monitor soldiers and ensure that they abide by the rules of engagement in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.
This formed part of the resolution at the National Executive Council (NEC) of the ACF in Kaduna, on Thursday.
In a communique signed by its deputy national publicity secretary, Fati Ibrahim, ACF said after reviewing and discussing recent developments in the country, it took notice of the proclamation of the state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states by the Federal Government on the grounds that attacks and killings by insurgents and other terrorist groups required massive military response.
“The meeting was concerned that the president appears to have more faith in a military solution, even where evidence from our experiences so far bears no such optimism.
“It is the hope of the ACF, therefore, that the Federal Government does not consider the increased military deployment as a superior option or alternative to the slower and more tedious path of dialogue, negotiation and conciliation.

“Given the dismal history of peace-making campaigns by the military all over the world, dispatching battalion after battalion to the field in the hope of combating insurgents or terrorists sound naive,” the forum said.
The Forum called on military personnel to avoid acts capable of increasing civilian casualties and bloodshed under the guise of emergency rule.
“They are well advised to involve the local populace in their operational plans, in order to minimise collateral civilian suffering,” the group added.
The NEC meeting of the ACF was presided over by its chairman, Alhaji Aliko Mohammed and was attended by delegations from all the northern states