The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has strongly denied claims circulating on social media that it proposed amnesty and financial incentives for terrorists and bandits wreaking havoc across northern Nigeria.
In a rebuttal on Monday, December 1, the northern socio-political group said the allegation stemmed from a deliberately distorted video clip taken from an interview granted to ARISE News by its Board of Trustees Chairman, Bashir Dalhatu.
Naijaonpoint reports that the viral clip, which circulated widely over the weekend, suggested that the ACF was pushing for a programme similar to the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s Amnesty initiative for Niger Delta militants.
But the forum said the interpretation was false and mischievous.
The ACF, in the statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Prof. T. A. Muhammad-Baba, accused unnamed groups of manipulating Dalhatu’s comments to mislead the public.
“The piece in circulation was truncated and mischievously abstracted to reach some predetermined conclusion(s),” the statement said.
The forum added that the full, unedited interview remained available on digital platforms for anyone seeking the actual context.
The ACF stressed that Dalhatu’s remarks in the interview were “largely personal reflections” and not an official position of the organisation.
“Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu spoke mostly in his personal capacity,” the statement clarified, noting that only “sporadic references” in his submission touched on broader northern views.
To set the record straight, the forum reminded the public that Dalhatu had firmly condemned terrorism at the beginning of the ARISE interview.
The ACF said he “assertively and emphatically condemned the spate of terrorist activities” and called for “the total annihilation of the terrorists and bandits” in order to restore peace across the region.
Niger Delta Amnesty Reference ‘Misrepresented’
The group acknowledged that Dalhatu made references to the Yar’Adua-era Amnesty Programme but insisted the comments had been twisted beyond recognition.
According to the statement, his intention was merely to illustrate the need for the government to consider all kinetic and non-kinetic pathways in tackling insecurity, not to replicate the amnesty model wholesale.
“He did not categorically propose the unadulterated application of the same pathway,” the forum stated. “Anyone promoting that narrative is expressing a personal opinion.”
The ACF also dismissed claims that Dalhatu had attributed terrorism or banditry to any ethnic or religious group. “Nowhere in the interview did Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu refer to the terrorists and bandits with their primordial characteristics such as ethnicity, religion, etc.,” the statement stressed.
It described contrary interpretations as vile reactions motivated by mischief. The organisation insisted its position on terrorism had always been “categorically and unambiguously clear.”
“At no time has the organisation called for any amnesty in favour of any terrorists or bandits,” it declared.
The ACF reaffirmed its support for the Federal Government and security agencies “in their various endeavours to stamp out the scourge of terrorism and banditry in Nigeria.”
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