Apex northern socio-political group, Arewa Consultative Forum, has expressed its displeasure at the kidnapping of former Petroleum Minister, Alhaji Shettima Ali Monguno.
It faulted the Boko Haram sect for causing hardship for the elder statesman.
While ACF described the incident as unfortunate, it urged the sect to release Monguno in the interest of peace.
The forum, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Anthony Sani, appealed to the people of Borno State not take the laws into their hands, while the federal and state governments made efforts to bring violence under control in Nigeria.
The statement read, "Arewa Consultative Forum has been saddened by the news that the elder statesman (Monguno) has been kidnapped by gunmen in Maiduguri on Friday, May 3, 2013.
"The forum is very sad because, given the age of the elder statesman and his services not only to Borno State but the whole country, he is not expected to be subjected to such hardship and humiliation by any group, be it sectarian or men of the underworld.
"If, as is being bandied about, Boko Haram members are the kidnappers in order to press for the release of their detained members by the authorities, ACF wishes to say they are going about it the wrong way.
"Rather, they should press for the release of their members, using the mechanism of dialogue put in place by the government, instead of causing the old man any untold hardship."
