Activist and public commentator, Mahdi Shehu, has criticised the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), accusing its members of celebrating wealth and personal comfort while ignoring the worsening conditions in Northern Nigeria.
In a post on X on Saturday, Shehu described the ACF’s 25th anniversary as a celebration of vanity and affluence, arguing that the group has failed to contribute meaningfully to the progress of the region.
Shehu claimed the members of ACF are not elected, not appointed, and not representing anybody, but rather a lobby group made up of individuals who want to remain relevant after exhausting their opportunities in public service.
According to him, many of those in the group benefited from free education funded by the labour and resources of northern villagers but chose personal enrichment over community service.
He alleged that although they enjoyed government-funded training and rose to top positions in public and security services, they planned only for themselves and their families.
“Sadly over 80% of them planned only for themselves and their immediate family members, forgetting their humble beginnings and backgrounds. Rather than reciprocating the gesture that made them what they are, they opted to ride on the back of the North, amassed so much power and wealth thereby contributing in destroying the same North they are supposed to protect.
Shehu said the North’s decline happened with their active participation, blaming what he described as years of greed, neglect, and divisive politics.
He stated that before their very eyes, the North was destroyed, decimated and factionalised along ethnic, tribal and religious lines.
He added that mistrust and hostility now dominate the region.
Shehu also accused many ACF members of double standards.
“When among their fellow Northerners, they complain about every government and insult its leaders, but in public they praise those in power,” he wrote.
He further alleged that 90 percent of ACF members have no visible investments in the North, despite having accumulated vast wealth, with many choosing to invest in cities like Lagos and Abuja or abroad.
Shehu criticised their lack of support for collapsing schools, poor roads and failing health facilities in their home states, saying they have abandoned the communities that once supported them.
He said they care less because they always fly home and remain close to every government in power for personal gain.
Reacting to the group’s ongoing attempt to raise N100 billion, Shehu dismissed the effort as heartless and hypocritical, claiming that dozens of those present at the event are individually worth far more than the target they were asking the public to donate.
For him and many others, Shehu said, the ACF has become a symbol of the challenges facing the region.
He described the group’s anniversary as a routine celebration of death, diseases, destitution, delay, decay and decimation of the North.