The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has described as false and unconstitutional, reports of a purported online meeting of its state chairmen and secretaries.
It insisted that the organisation’s leadership remains intact and operating strictly in line with its constitution.
In a statement issued by its national publicity secretary, Professor Tukur Muhammad-Baba, the forum said its National Executive Committee (NEC) and National Working Committee (NWC) remain the legitimate organs managing the affairs of the organisation.
The ACF said both bodies had continued to function unhindered while supporting ongoing efforts by northern elders to resolve what it described as “extra-constitutional aberrations” in the management of the forum.
The statement said the purported online meeting and the decisions emanating from it were “false, fabricated, mischievous and obviously concocted by shadowy elements who do not wish well of Arewa or the ACF.”
The forum added that its constitution recognises only five operational organs-the Patrons, General Assembly, Board of Trustees, National Executive Committee and National Working Committee-and does not provide for any independent platform of state chairmen and secretaries.
It noted that under its constitution, “state chapter chairmen and secretaries are members of the NEC and cannot validly convene or take decisions outside that structure.”
The ACF added that at its June 19 meeting in Kaduna, the National Working Committee reaffirmed confidence in Mr. Mamman Mike Osuman (SAN) and Mallam Murtala Aliyu as chairman and secretary-general of both the NEC and NWC.
It added that the meeting also resolved to refer any member found undermining the forum’s constitution to its Code of Conduct and Ethics Committee for investigation and possible sanctions.
The forum further stated that several state chapters had since dissociated themselves from the purported online meeting and denied participating in it.
It also questioned the advertorial published in three national newspapers, noting that it was allegedly sponsored by an estate management firm with no known affiliation to the ACF.
On reports that a committee had been inaugurated to manage the forum’s endowment fund, the ACF stated that only the NEC has the constitutional authority to constitute such committees.