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Southern Nigeria and Middle Belt Forum (SMBLF) has demanded an apology from the Federal Government and all those who have attacked Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah over his Christmas Day message which criticised President Muhammadu Buhari.
The SMBLF made the demand in a release, titled “You Cannot Suppress the Voice of Reason.”
It was signed by Yinka Odumakin (South West), Chief Guy Ikoku (South East), Senator Bassey Henshaw (South-South) and Dr Isuwa Dogo (Middle Belt).
The SMBLF stated: “The leadership of the Southern Nigeria and Middle Belt Forum, notes with very serious concern and condemnation the outbursts of the Presidency and the Northern Elders Forum over the Christmas Day Message of the revered Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Hassan Kukah.
Nigeria: Scrapping Constitution - Group Distances Southern, Middle Belt Leaders allafrica.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from allafrica.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The leaders, numbering 127, who spoke under the platform of the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination, described the Nigerian 1999 constitution as a fraud.
Among the names listed as promoters of the alliance were former Governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang, Second Republic Member of the Senate, Professor Banji Akintoye, a former minister, Prof. Yusuf Turaki, a former Vice-Chairman of Arik Air, Senator Aniete Okon, President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, retired Commodores Ebitu Ukiwe, and Idongesit Nkanga, and the leader of the Middle Belt Forum, Dr Bitrus Pogu and 121 others.
But on Wednesday, the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) accused the group of smuggling the names of some of their leaders without their consent.
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Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) has chided a group, Nigerian Alliance for Self-Determination (NASD), for allegedly impersonating it and its leaders, without any recourse to them, as being part of its positions in its recent publication where it reportedly gave a 90-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to scrap the 1999 Constitution.
Nigerian Alliance for Self-Determination had reportedly fingered the 1999 Constitution as being responsible for the worsening security situation in the country and poverty in the land.
However, SMBLF expressed its displeasure on Wednesday in a statement entitled: “Stop misusing SMBLF,” and jointly signed by Mr. Yinka Odumakin on behalf of South-West, Chief Guy Ikokwu (South-East), Senator Bassey Henshaw (South-South) and Dr. Isuwa Dogo (Middle-Belt), describing the action as indecent and unacceptable.
Nigerian Military under fire as armed bandits kidnap hundreds of schoolboys in Katsina
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and military authorities came under fierce backlash on Saturday following the abduction of many schoolboys from the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara in the Kankara Local Government Area of Katsina State on Friday night.
The Peoples Democratic Party, the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum and others described the incident as unfortunate, saying it was a sad reminder of the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls in 2014. They noted that it was worrying that such mass abduction could take place under the watch of the various security agencies.