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The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has strongly refuted claims circulating on social media suggesting that the organisation endorsed amnesty and financial incentives for terrorists aand bandits operating across northern Nigeria.
In a statement released on Monday, the ACF described the allegations sparked by a viral video clip as “mischievously abstracted” and “taken out of context” from an interview granted to Arise News by its Board of Trustees Chairman, Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu.
The video had implied that the ACF was recommending a strategy similar to the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s amnesty programme for the Niger Delta militants.
But the ACF dismissed the interpretation as a deliberate attempt by “clandestine and shadowy individuals or groups” to mislead the public.
According to the statement signed by the organisation’s National Publicity Secretary, Prof. T. A. Muhammad-Baba, Dalhatu’s remarks were selectively edited.
“The piece in circulation was truncated and mischievously abstracted to reach some predetermined conclusion(s),” the forum stated, adding that “the full interview is available on digital platforms” for anyone seeking accurate context.
The ACF emphasised that Dalhatu’s comments were largely personal reflections, not an official position of the forum. “Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu spoke mostly in his personal capacity,” the organisation clarified, stressing that only “sporadic” references touched on broader northern perspectives.
