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The Federal Government has deregistered frontline socio-cultural groups in Nigeria as the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has withdrawn the registration certificate of Ohanaeze Ndigbo General Assembly, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), among others.
The Registrar General of CAC, Garba Abubakar, who disclosed this in Abuja, said the measure was part of the reforms the commission was putting in place to subject such applications to thorough scrutiny following security threats that may arise from such registrations.
He said: “Yes, we have withdrawn the certificate of Ohanaeze Ndigbo General Assembly because the certificate should not have been issued in the first instance.
“We have an established protocol that all organizations; ethnic, religious with political implication should be referred for security clearance before such organizations are registered.
“In 2017, a similar organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide applied to be registered and security agencies rejected it.
“It would have been a double standard to allow another organization to be registered. Up till now, Arewa Consultative Forum is not registered because they were not given security clearance, we have South-South Youth Forum, North East Youth Forum and so many organizations that have not been allowed to register.
“What we have done after withdrawing the certificate (of Ohanaeze Ndigbo General Assembly), we now referred the application for security clearance, if at the end of the day we are advised that this object is consistent with what the law says, and the trustees are fit and proper, then we will go ahead, but till then, we have withdrawn the certificate and they have threatened to go to court, we are lawyers, we will meet them in court.”
This development is coming after the Department of State Services (DSS) accused some social cultural organisations and certain individuals in Nigeria of plotting to create chaos across the country.
The Public Relations Officer of DSS, Peter Afunanya, had in a statement on Monday, said the Service “uncovered plans by some persons and groups desirous of taking advantage of latest developments in parts of the country to destabilise it.”
He added : “Some prominent personalities and socio-cultural groups have resorted to divisive acts through inciting statements aimed at pitting individuals, groups and ethnic nationalities against another. The Service is, without doubt, aware of these plans and their sponsors.”
Afunanya warned that Nigeria’s secret Police “will no longer tolerate the orchestrations by subversive and unscrupulous elements to cause a breakdown of law and order in the country”.
He said the agency is working assiduously with relevant authorities and sister security and law enforcement agencies to ensure that the sinister objective is not achieved.
Afunanya reitered the Service’s commitment to the internal security of Nigeria, adding that the agency will within the confines of the law, decisively deal with planners of the mayhem.
The DSS spokesperson urged law abiding citizens to go about their normal businesses and disregard the antics of agents of destabilisation.
He, however, advised members of the public to avail the Service and related agencies with useful information about the activities of criminals and groups intent on instigating violence in the country.