From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to declare Benue, Taraba and Borno states no-fly zones.
On Tuesday, Buhari declared Zamfara a no-fly-zone following the recent abduction of students of Government Secondary School, Jangebe as part of measures to crush bandits operating in the state
The president also banned mining activities in Zamfara.
Chairman of ACF, Audu Ogbeh, in a statement, yesterday said there were rumours that aircraft “frequently drop arms for bandits and insurgents” operating in the three states.
“Arewa Consultative Forum congratulates the people and government of Zamfara State on the safe release of the kidnapped schoolgirls from the Government Girls Secondary School in the state. We are also happy with the Federal Government’s decision to ban flights in the state.
“We also plead with the government to extend the ban to other states like Benue, Taraba, Borno where there are rumours that helicopters frequently drop arms for bandits and insurgents operating in these states. We believe that such an extended ban will curtail the operations of the criminals in these areas.”
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, alleged plots by the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in Zamfara State.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, accused the All Progressives Congress (APC), at a press briefing in Abuja, of plotting to take over Zamfara through the backdoor.
“Our party rejects this attempt by power-mongers in the APC administration to undermine and subvert the democratic order in Zamfara State by creating the impression that the state government, under Governor Bello Muhammad Matawalle, is to blame for the failures of the APC-led Federal Government to contain insecurity in the state….
“More so, there is escalated banditry, terrorism, kidnapping and other forms of violent acts in APC controlled states of the North West, like Kaduna and Katsina; in the North East of Borno and Yobe as well as the North Central states of Niger, Nasarawa, Plateau and Kogi, yet no attempt has been made by the Buhari Presidency to intimidate the governors of the various states, seek to impose a state of emergency or declare such states as ‘no fly zone.”