Police Seal ACF Headquarters in Kaduna, Block NEC Meeting

The crisis inside the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) took a sharp turn on Tuesday when the Nigeria Police sealed the organisation’s national headquarters in Kaduna, hours before a scheduled National Executive Council (NEC) meeting planned for Wednesday, May 6.

What Happened at the ACF Gate

Police officers turned up at the ACF secretariat in Kaduna and restricted access to the building. Delegates who had already traveled to Kaduna ahead of the NEC meeting found themselves locked out. The ACF, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Prof. Tanko Muhammad Baba, called the action “illegal and unjustified” — and said police gave no clear reason for being there.

The only thing resembling an explanation was an unsigned circular allegedly linked to the Chairman of the ACF’s Board of Trustees, Bashir Dalhatu, claiming that the NEC meeting had been cancelled because it was convened by the Secretary General rather than proper authority. The ACF rejected that framing entirely.

Police Push Back

The Kaduna State Police Command denied sealing anything. Their position: officers were deployed purely as a preventive measure to stop a potential clash between factions. In their telling, it was peacekeeping, not a lockdown.

That distinction matters legally — but on the ground, the effect was the same. NEC delegates could not get in.

The Internal Dispute Behind the Standoff

The ACF has been battling an internal leadership dispute, with disagreement over who has the authority to convene meetings. The forum’s chairman, Mamman Osuman, convened Tuesday’s National Working Committee (NWC) meeting and the planned NEC session under Sections 20 and 13 of the ACF constitution. The BOT chairman’s camp disputes the legitimacy of those actions.

The ACF insisted there is no court order restricting any of its meetings and called on the Inspector General of Police to intervene and direct the Kaduna Commissioner of Police to unseal the premises.

Why This Matters

The ACF is one of Nigeria’s most prominent Northern interest groups. Internal quarrels of this nature — spilling out into police deployments and locked gates — do lasting damage to the organisation’s credibility. The North’s political voice needs forums like the ACF to function. Right now, they cannot even hold a meeting without it turning into a security incident.

Sources: Nigerian Observer, Punch, Daily Trust, Blueprint Newspapers