18th July, 2014
The Northern Elders Forum on Thursday 17 July condemned the registration of northerners living in some states in the sourthern part of the country, noting that it is an affront on Nigerian citizens.
Dr Solomon Dalung, Spokesman of the forum, said this while addressing newsmen after a meeting of the forum in Bauchi.
He described the exercise as a threat to national unity and an affront on the constitution which provided rights to all citizens to live in any part of the country.
“We consider the registration of northerners living in some states in the south as a very serious affront on the constitution that provided rights for citizens to live everywhere peacefully.
“Secondly, we consider it a threat to national unity. Profiling of citizens World over has been responsible for most of the grave atrocities and wars prosecuted by nations historical.
“So, if we allow such to happen in the 21st century in a federation like ours, we consider it very serious. We condemned it and we call on the Federal Government to protect all citizens of the north living in those areas.
“And also called on those behind it to discontinue those act of affront on Nigerian citizens.”
Dalung, who is also a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Jos, said that the forum had concluded investigation into the illegal detention of 486 northerners in Abia and would take legal action.
“Even the issue of detention of northerners, we have concluded investigations of what actually took place. The people have been released, including the one they said was a kingpin of Boko Haram.
“It is a typical Fulani man and with his traditional inscriptions on his body, which even my grandmother has. Those inscriptions were what they were referred to as marks of kingpin of Boko Haram, and they arrest him.
“Sadly, too, the Fulani cannot communicate very well in any language except Fulani, and he was not aware of what they were saying and at the end he has been released. All other persons have been released and they are back.
“What we are looking at now is to put up a legal team to go court so that they can have their right of detention restored to them and paid compensations as provided for by law because they were illegally humiliated as citizens of Nigeria.”