SAN FRANCISCO, July 28, (THEWILL) – Leaders of the Northern region, that is perceived to be most favoured in appointments made by the current administration, has accused the Federal Government of being responsible for the unfair manner of appointments.

They reasoned that the failure to reconstitute the Federal Character Commission, FCC, Federal Civil Service Commission, FCS, and the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, has resulted in lopsided appointments.

The leaders stated this on Friday in a communiqué issued at the end of a two-day meeting which the Northern States Governors’ Forum, NSGF, had in Kaduna with traditional rulers in the region.

The enlarged meeting urged the federal government to urgently ensure the reconstitution of the FCC, the FCS and the RMAFC to enable them discharge their constitutional responsibilities, adding that “failure to do so has so far resulted in lopsided appointments”.

They also constituted a 12-man committee headed by Sokoto State governor, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, with a mandate to collate views on the agitation for restructuring from individuals, groups and corporate organisations in the north.

Other members of the committee include the governors of Nasarawa, Gombe, Benue, Bauchi and Kaduna states as well as the Emirs of Kano, Zazzau, Gummi, the Etsu Nupe and the Gbong Gwom Jos and Deputy Governor of Plateau State, Sonni Tyoden, who would serve as secretary.

In a six-page communiqué read by Katsina State governor, Aminu Masari, on behalf of the forum’s chairman and Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, the Northern governors noted that the committee had become necessary because agitation for restructuring has assumed different meanings to different people.

The communiqué reads: “The committee is to come up with an acceptable, tenable and sustainable position for the northern region in consonance with the provisions of the 1999 constitution, taking into cognisance, the current constitutional amendment process going on at the national assembly.

‘’We reassure all Nigerians who live in the north of our readiness to protect their lives and property and we, therefore, call on our colleagues in the south to emulate this gesture.

“The forum, therefore, discourages ethinicising the deadly conflicts and crimes with the Fulani tribe as other tribes could be cattle-rearers too.

“The free movement of persons, goods, and services within the West African sub-region as ratified by the ECOWAS Convention should be subjected to the laws of individual member states in order to check cross border crimes, especially cattle rustling.

“Creating more grazing reserves and providing adequate infrastructure in such reserves by way of addressing the needs of cattle-rearers and those of their animals before the enactment of the appropriate legislation will ameliorate the challenges.”

The leaders went on to decry the escalating clashes between farmers and cattle-rearers, saying the situation was being worsened by the infiltration of criminal elements from outside the north who pose as Fulani herdsmen.

Against the backdrop of the October 1 deadline issued for Igbos residing in the North to vacate the region, governors of the 19 northern states and the traditional rulers of northern extraction present at the meeting vowed to protect the lives and property of Southerners in the North.

They however called on leaders in southern part of the country to do the same in order to put an end to the wave of ethnic tension across the country.