The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has accused the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) of exploiting the sexual harassment allegations against Senate President Godswill Akpabio to advance a political agenda.
According to PANDEF, the move is aimed at discrediting Southern leaders and shifting power back to Northern Nigeria ahead of the 2027 elections.
PANDEF’s National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Obiuwevbi Ominimini, said in a statement that the ACF’s claims of bias against Northern senators are an attempt to incite regional tensions and undermine President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
“The press release by the ACF is nothing but a political attack on Southern Nigeria. For the ACF to suggest that only northerners are being suspended and to call on northern senators to rally around their own is a direct threat to national unity,” Ominimini said.
He further recalled that in the 8th Assembly, a southern senator was suspended under a northern Senate President, yet PANDEF did not interfere in the affairs of the National Assembly.
“The Senate is governed by rules and regulations. Suspensions and disciplinary actions have always been part of legislative proceedings. Anyone who feels aggrieved can seek legal redress. What ACF has done is an open call for division and a threat to the stability of Nigeria,” PANDEF stated.
The group condemned what it described as an attempt to create a false “anti-Arewa” narrative and called for security agencies to interrogate ACF’s National Publicity Secretary, Prof. T. A. Muhammad-Baba, over statements it deemed inciting.