Protect our people, Northern elders tell southern governors

The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has urged governors of the southern states to take urgent steps to improve the protection of northerners living in the south and give them assurances of their safety.

The forum stated on Wednesday that it became necessary to raise alarm at what it described as recent and deliberate targeting of northerners in many parts of the south, adding that there are reports of “killings, destruction, and stealing of their assets and other assaults that had been going on for days.”

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In a statement issued by its Director, Publicity and Advocacy, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, the NEF stated that it was aware that the governors and security agencies and communities in many states in the south were aware of the widespread assaults on northerners, and urged them to take action to protect them.

“The forum had resisted the pressure to raise alarm earlier at these unacceptable acts of hostility at Nigerians living and earning legitimate livelihood peacefully in many communities in the south, out of concern that doing so would further worsen a major national crisis,” it stated.

While commending efforts by some community leaders to reduce the vulnerability of northerners in many southern communities, the NEF said many families in the north are concerned by the plight of their family members who have lost lives and assets and are living in fear in the south and called for an immediate stop of attacks and harassment of northerners in many southern communities.

It advised northerners living in southern states to stay put and continue to pursue their livelihood and urged them to compile a verifiable inventory of lives and property lost as well as approach relevant authorities for appropriate restitution.