ACF’s HQ Still Under Police Blockade

The apex northern socio-cultural organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum’s national headquarters  was sealed off by the police on  Tuesday and remained under police blockade on Thursday.

The police had barricaded the ACF Secretariat on Sokoto Road, Kaduna, ahead of the forum’s National Executive Committee (NEC) scheduled for Wednesday.

Kaduna State Police Command had claimed that its men were stationed at the ACF premises to prevent a possible breakdown of law and order between two rival factions within the forum.

On Wednesday, the Chairman of the ACF Board of Trustees, Alhaji Bashir M. Dalhatu, was suspended indefinitely by the forum’s National Executive Committee (NEC), led by its Chairman, Mike Mamman Osuman, SAN, during its meeting held at an undisclosed venue in Kaduna, over alleged financial misconduct and constitutional breaches.

However, speaking with LEADERSHIP on Thursday, ACF National Publicity Secretary, Prof. Tukur Muhammad Baba, said the forum’s headquarters was still under the firm control of the police.

When asked whether the forum would take legal action against the police, ACF spokesperson said the decision has not been taken, “For now, the ACF chairman said not yet. We have not decided on that. As far as we are concerned, we don’t know why the police are there. They are remaining there. We don’t know who sent them. Let’s wait and see. They said they wanted to prevent a meeting from happening because there would be a breakdown of order.”

According to Muhammad Baba, “I can confirm that as of 3.35 pm this afternoon, the police are still there. They have sealed the place. They have not withdrawn. I can confirm that. We have taken all the necessary steps. The National Executive Council has met at an alternative location. It has passed a resolution. It has suspended Bashir Dalhatu from the ACF. And that there will be a forensic investigation into the management of finance and all affairs of the forum. And it will be made public from there, and we will decide what to do”

ACF added, “The meeting met, and even those who are contending have said there is no leadership crisis, there is no coalition, there is no faction. They are just insisting that the Secretary-General must go, but it’s not a question of faction. The police say they are a faction so that we will wait for them.

“The ball is in their court. Since they have enough personnel to cover security and then deploy police to a non-threatening situation, we will wait for them.

“Maybe they have enough personnel and vehicles. But as I am talking to you, there are at least three vehicles. Not only that, all the portions of Sokoto road leading to ACF headquarters have been sealed by the police,” the forum said.

Recall that the Chairman of the ACF board of trustees (BoT), Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu, had, in a statement on Wednesday before his suspension, accused the forum’s Secretary-General, Aliyu Murtala, of refusing to hand over as the trustees asked him and three others to vacate their positions following the expiration of their tenures on 10 March 2026.

Dalhatu had explained that among the four officials the BoT asked to leave, only the Secretary-General, Aliyu Murtala, was refusing to step down.

The embattled BoT chairman listed the affected officials as Deputy Chairman of the BoT, Senator Fred F. Orti; Vice Chairman, Ambassador Ibrahim Mai Sule; Deputy Chairman of NEC, Senator Ibrahim Ida; and Secretary-General, Murtala Aliyu.

Dalhatu stated further that, rather than vacating the position, Murtala had summoned an emergency meeting last Tuesday in the hope of reversing the BoT decision that had asked him to step down.

Meanwhile, calls to the Secretary-General, Aliyu Murtala, on his phone to get his version of the story went unanswered.