The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum( AYCF) has asked Senator Ali Ndume to take immediate legal action against one Hassan Biu who allegedly made “spurious claims about Ndume having links with Boko Haram insurgents”.
The leadership of the Northern Forum describe the claim as “an insult on the Nigerian Senate”.
In a statement release in Kaduna, today, National President of the group, Alhaji Yerima Shettima noted that ” Since a court of competent jurisdiction had cleared Ndume, it will not tolerate Ndumes name and office to be ridiculed saying as a senator and Chairman Senate Committee on Nigerian Army, any false submissions are totally unacceptable.
The AYCF described the stance of Hassan Biu as “direct character assassination, saying the matter has since ended with a court pronouncement that Ndume was not guilty as alleged”.
The statement also noted that “the way and manner the malicious allegation spread in many Nigerian newspapers is capable of ridiculing the image of not only Senator Ndume but that of the people of Borno South that he represents”.
On news of the killing of over 800 soldiers, the AYCF said: “The masked media hack that attacked Ndume does not have authority to deny figures given by the Senate Committee Chairman on Army and therefore only the Nigerian army can officially deny this figure or give the nation a different casualty figure.
The AYCF said “we have the conviction that a legal action by Senator Ndume, capable of getting the media houses to produce the so-called Hassan Biu would not only set the records straight, but serve as a deterrent to others who might want to create the wrong impression that Ndume and the army were not united in the efforts to end insurgency”.
The AYCF then declared: ” We insist Senator Ndume should take legal action against this libellous news by taking the media houses that provided the opportunity for maligning the lawmaker, so that both the hack and his sponsors would be promptly exposed. If the Senator fails to take such a decisive action he will face our anger”.
The group took the masked commentator to task, saying he has duty to come out and apologize to the lawmaker. “
(C) Control TV 2019
