The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) declared on Tuesday that it was stunned by a statement accredited to the Zamfara State governor, Bello Mutawalle, over the identity of those behind the abduction of the schoolgirls.
The governor was reported in the media to have known the identity of the kidnappers and that if he revealed their identity, Nigerians would be shocked.
Governor Matawalle made the statement when 17 Emirs paid a sympathy visit to him on the kidnap of 317 school girls from Government Girls Secondary School Jangebe in Talata Mafara.
But the ACF, through its National Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbeh, asked the governor to reveal their identity and let Nigerians be shocked, even if the heavens fall.
Chief Ogbeh also asked the security agencies to question the Governor on the identifies of the criminals he is trying to hide.
Matawalle
“If he refuses to disclose their identities, he must be treated as an accomplice to the criminal act of kidnapping.
“The ACF has been embarrassed by the spate of kidnappings especially of school children spreading like wild fire all over the north. People in positions of authority that will help us out of this mess like Governor Mutawalle must stop embarrassing the north and country with careless statements on a serious issue like the kidnappings of school children.
“Zamfara State and the north are way behind the rest of the country in educational development. The serial kidnappings of school pupils in the north will only worsen a bad and unacceptable state of education in the North.”