INTRODUCTION TO
THE MIDDLE BELT MOVEMENT
IN NIGERIA
By James Pam, MSc. B & F, August 2022
jamespam2004@gmail.com
HISTORICAL
DEVELOPMENTS
The earliest idea for the carving out of a unique
geographical space in the central part of Nigeria came from Dr. Karl Kumm. He
was a German Missionary with the Sudan United Mission (SUM) who arrived in Nigeria
in 1904 alongside 3 colleagues. Kumm’s initial plan was to start work among
Muslims at Bauchi. However, during a visit to Lord Lugard at Zungeru, Lugard told
him that the Policy of Indirect rule included an agreement that Christian
Missionaries should not preach to Muslims.[1]
In 1907, Kumm suggested to Lord Lugard that a Benue Region be created for Christians
and the British colonial administrators. Though the British did not accede to
the suggestion, Kumm and his colleagues successfully established a thriving
church that has over 250,000 members today and is called the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) with
headquarters in Jos.
Another suggestion for the carving out of a special
geographical area in the central part of Nigeria came 4 years later in 1911 from
Mr. E. D. Mirel, an influential British journalist and Editor of the British African Mail, a London-based
newspaper. Again, due to the incompatibility of Christianity and Islam, he proposed
to the British Government that it should create what he termed a Central Region for non-Muslims and
cultural minorities. Logams (2004) said that though Mirel’s idea was given serious
thought, nothing was done about it.[2]
DEFINITIONAL ISSUES
Difficulties in defining the Middle Belt have
arisen because of the multi-dimensional concept of the Middle Belt. It is a
geographical area, a group of ethnic nationalities, a consciousness and a political
movement all at the same time. This has led to the coinage of the terms Geographic Middle Belt and Political Middle Belt. However, Paul C. Logams,
who wrote one of the most detailed scholarly treatises on the Middle Belt
movement, warned that using the geographical definition alone without a precise
distinction is politically meaningless because geography alone cannot capture the
socio-economic and political problems that the Nigerian northern minorities have
been facing.[3]
As A Geographical Area (Geographical Middle
Belt): The Middle Belt of
Nigeria is that portion of the Nigerian landmass that is south of Hausa and
Kanuri land, and north of Yoruba and Igbo land. James Coleman (1958) described
the Middle Belt as, “the lower half of the (Northern) Region.”[4]
In a
memorandum to the Willink’s Minorities Commission, the Northern Regional
Government defined the Middle Belt region in terms of its geography as follows:
The
whole of Ilorin, Kabba, Benue and Plateau Provinces, the Southern parts of
Bauchi and Zaria Provinces, the whole of Niger Province except for the area
north of Kontagora town, and the whole of the Numan Division of Adamawa
Province together with the Districts of Muri and Wurkun in the Muri Division of
the same Province.[5]
Prof.
Sony G. Tyoden opined that:
“Geographically,
proponents of the Middle Belt identity have been consistent in the demarcation
of its territorial bounds, describing it as the area encompassing “Kabba,
Ilorin, Niger, Benue, Plateau, Adamawa, Southern Zaria and Southern Bauchi
Provinces.”[6]
The
inclusion of Kabba and Ilorin Provinces in the geographical area of the Middle
Belt has elicited controversy, which has not completely died down to date
because these Provinces had Yoruba people in them who were considered to be South-westerners.
These Yoruba were actually at the forefront of the Middle Belt agitations and
gave it every support. Two of such Yorubas were Bello Ijumu from Kabba Province
and Hon. Josiah S. Olawoyin, from Ilorin Province. Olawoyin was also the General
Secretary of Action Group, Northern Region.
This
controversy about Yorubas in the North led the Willink’s Minorities Commission
to recommend that a plebiscite be set up to resolve the issue of the boundary
between the Northern Region and Western Region in that axis. The plebiscite was
never set up and the Yoruba (called Okun) people are still in Kwara and Kogi
States today, which are in the North-Central geo-political Zone. During the
2014 National Conference organized by the President Goodluck Jonathan
administration, the Okun people demanded the creation of an Okun State (to be
carved out of 6 LGAs in Kwara State and 5 LGAs in Kogi State) and for the new
State to be transferred to the South Western geo-political Zone of the country.
As A Conglomeration Of Ethnic Nationalities: The Middle Belt is composed of all the
tribes and clans that are autochthonous to the geographical area described
above in 1914 when the Amalgamation of the Southern and Northern Protectorates
took place. According to Mark Lipdo (2015) the 14 States that comprise the
Middle Belt today have about 618 major ethnic groups that have another 440 clans.
He gave a breakdown of these ethnic groups and clans by their States as
follows: Adamawa has 76 ethnic groups and 69 clans, Bauchi 89 and 57, Benue 16
and 74, Borno 50 and 43, Gombe 20 and 9, Kaduna 62 and 32, Kebbi 12 and 57,
Kogi 10 and 16, Kwara 9 and 3, Nasarawa 23, Niger 29 and 9, Plateau 92 and 27,
Taraba 122 and 44, and FCT 8.[7]
Though Lipdo gave all their names, time and space will not permit me to repeat
them here.
The total population of the people-groups of
the Middle Belt is estimated to be in the region of 40 million and they occupy
a landmass measuring about 300,000 square kilometers, which is about one-third
of Nigeria’s total land mass of 921,000 square kilometers.
As A Consciousness: The Middle Belt is that knowledge in the conscious and subconscious mind of all those who consider themselves to be Middle Beltans and yet are northerners. They don’t quite fit into the definition of a typical ‘northerner’ who is expected by other Nigerians to be Muslims by religion and to be either Fulani or Hausa or Kanuri by tribe.
This consciousness develops spontaneously in
most Middle Beltans through their experiences as they interact with southerners
and far northerners. This consciousness propels Middle Beltans to demand the
recognition of their different socio-cultural and religious identities and to
object to being lumped in the same mold with far northerners.
The late great leader of the Middle Belt, Dr.
Obadiah Mailafia, described this consciousness beautifully in an article he published
in
the Vanguard Newspaper. He said that the
Middle Belt is
both a geographical expression as well as a political identity and that is a
state of mind that exists in the hearts and minds of the
Middle Belt people just the way the English Constitution exists in the hearts
and minds of the British.[8]
As A Political Movement (Political Middle Belt):
Middle Belt people started banding together formally under various names as tribal
associations, village and town meetings, socio-cultural associations, religious
groups, and political associations from about 1920. Examples of these Middle Belt
associations past and present are, Middle Belt Forum, Middle Belt Zone League, Middle
Belt Congress, United Middle Belt Congress, Middle Belt Christian Association, Middle
Belt Youth Organization, etc. Some of them have published newspapers and
magazines with names like the Middle Belt
News and the Middle Belt Herald.
There is even a Middle Belt University now. These all go to prove the
seriousness and determination of the Middle Belt people about the Middle Belt movement.
The Middle Belt People’s Party (MBPP) of the
1950s described the Middle Belt in one of its Minutes of Meeting as, “a
political movement for the protection of the interests of the mainly Christian
people groups in the old Northern Region of Nigeria,”[9]
which aptly captures the aim and objective for the establishment of all Middle
Belt movements.
Middle Belt Forum’s Definition Of The Middle Belt
The Middle Belt Forum (MBF), the foremost
socio-cultural organization of the Middle Belt people, agreed with the Willink’s
Minorities Commission’s map when it stated in the preamble of its Constitution that:
“WE,
THE AUTOCHTHONOUS PEOPLE OF the Middle Belt Region, are found in the following
States: Adamawa, Benue, Gombe, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Taraba,
FCT (Abuja), Kaduna, Kebbi, Bauchi, Yobe, and Borno of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.”[10]
By this
statement, the only people of northern Nigeria left out of the Middle Belt are
the Fulani, Hausa and Kanuri ethnic stock. All the other ethnic nationalities
in the defunct Northern Region, who are generally referred to as minority
ethnic groups, are included in the Middle Belt. Though they are referred to as
minorities, put together, they constitute a majority in northern Nigeria. They
also occupy a larger geographical landmass than that occupied by their northern
Fulani, Hausa and Kanuri neighbors put together.
Middle Belt Congress (MBC) Definition Of The Middle
Belt
The
Middle Belt Congress (MBC), one of the few Middle Belt socio-cultural
organizations that have formally registered with relevant governmental agencies,
defines the Middle Belt in its Constitution as:
The
geographical area referred to as the Middle Belt Region of Nigeria and from
where the Congress draws its membership are those territories that were part of
the Northern Protectorate, but outside the sphere of authority of the
Kanem-Borno Empire and the Sokoto Caliphate as of the date of the 1914
Amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates. Today, this area
includes, wholly or partially, the present Adamawa, Benue, Kogi, Kwara,
Nasarawa, Niger, Taraba, and Plateau States, Southern Kaduna Senatorial
District including Kajuru and Chikun, Igabi and Birnin Gwari LGAs in the Kaduna
Central Senatorial District, Saminaka in Kaduna North Senatorial District; the
Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Yauri and Zuru areas in the present Kebbi
State; the old Tangale-Waja and Yamaltu-Deba Divisions of Gombe State; Tafawa
Balewa, Bogoro, Dass, Toro and Alkaleri LGAs of Bauchi State; Southern part of
Gwoza Chiefdom and Biu in Southern Borno State; and Potiskum LGA in Yobe State.[11]
Because
of its synchrony with all previously cited definitions and its exhaustive
nature, I will adopt this definition of the Middle Belt for this discussion.
Map 1: Willink’s Commission Map 5 shows the location of major ethnic
groups.
(Boundaries of Middle Belt tribes highlighting
have been added for purposes of clarity.)
Source: Willink’s
Minorities Commission Report (1958)[12]
POLITICAL
DEVELOPMENTS
The Era Of Tribal Associations, 1920 to 1950:
The 2nd Annual Conference of the West African Institute of Social &
Economic Research held in Ibadan in April 1952 defined a tribal association
as an organizational expression of the persistence of the strong feelings of
loyalty and obligation to the kinship group and the town or village where the
lineage is localized.[13]
But some tribal associations were even multi-tribal and could be found in the
Northern and Southern Protectorates of Nigeria, Fernando Po (now Bioko) and
Gold Coast (now Ghana).
Tribal associations went by names such as Naze
Family Meeting, Ngwa Clan Union, Owerri Divisional Union, Calabar Improvement
League, Igbirra Progressive Union, Berom Progressive Union, Tiv Progressive
Union, Kanuri Tribal Union, Habe Tribal Union, Katagum Peoples Union, Idoma Hope Rising Union, Southern Zaria Freedom
Movement, Pan Jarawa League, Pan Sayawa League, Kilba State Union, Wurkum
Tribal Union, Yergam Tribal Union, etc.
These associations initially developed
spontaneously in the new urban centers that sprang up as a result of economic
and educational development, the extension of railroads to provincial capitals,
the extension of postal/telegraphic services, expansion of trading activities
by European firms, the emergence of the junior civil servant who was posted to
alien communities away from his ancestral home, and the expansion of industries
like tin mining in Jos, coal mining in Enugu, rubber tapping in Benin, cocoa
plantations in Calabar and Cameroon Provinces.
Logams observed that tribal unions developed
in the North mainly due to the subordination of non-Islamic groups and
societies. He added that northern unions like the Habe Tribal Union and the
Borno Youth Movement were established based on the class struggle among some northern
Muslim groups who felt marginalized in political office sharing between 1955
and 1965. But there was never a ‘Hausa tribal Union’ or a ‘Fulani Tribal Union.’[14]
The Middle Belt Movement
Assumes Full Political Dimensions:
In
the build-up to Independence, tribal associations metamorphosed into political
parties. Thus, in the pre-Independence era, party politics in Nigeria was ethnically
based. This phenomenon continued into the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Republics. For
example, the Action Group (AG) developed from a Yoruba Cultural Association,
Egbe Omo Oduduwa; the NCNC was closely allied to the Igbo Union while the NPC
developed from Jamiyyar Mutanen Arewa. The AG was led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo,
a Yoruba man; the NCNC leadership fell on Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, an Igbo man,
while the NPC was led by Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sarduna of Sokoto, a Fulani man.
GNPP was led by Ibrahim Waziri and was the dominant party controlling the
Kanuri-speaking area of the North East. Joseph S. Tarka, a Tiv man, led the
United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC),
According
to Logams (2004), from 1956, the Middle Belt movement became a full-blown
political force.[15]
The United Middle Belt
Congress (UMBC)
The
United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) was a fusion of two Middle Belt political
parties, viz. the Middle Zone League and the Middle Belt Peoples' Party in 1956. It
was formed to provide a political platform for the various ethnic groups in the
central parts of Nigeria that today cover the whole of or parts of 14 States in
the northern half of the country. It was formed to provide a platform for a
minority voice in the Northern Nigeria Assembly, which was dominated by the Northern People's Congress (NPC). The
UMBC in due time became the third largest opposition party in the Northern
Nigeria Assembly. Some of the early leaders of the UMBC were Joseph Tarka, Akase Dowgo, David Lot,
Patrick Dokotri, Edward Kundu Swem, Ahmadu Angara, Isaac Shaahu (Northern
Assembly Opposition Leader), Solomon Lar,
D. Bulus Bitiyong, D. D. Dimka, V.T. Shisha, M.D. Iyorka, Ugba Uyeh and Vincent
Igbarumun Orjime.[16] The
name of Ibrahim Imam must always be included in the list of Middle Belt
fighters. He is the Kanuri man from Borno Province who moved the motion for the
creation of a Middle Belt Region on the floor of the Northern House of Assembly
on 6th May 1956.
Why The Middle Belt Movement Became Necessary
Usman dan Fodio’s jihads between 1804 and 1807 had resulted in the takeover of Hausa land
from Sokoto to Kano, Katsina, Daura, Zaria, and as far as Bauchi and Adamawa.
The Nupe kingdom in Bida and the Yoruba Empire in Ilorin had also fallen.
Fulani Emirs applied strict Islamic laws to replace the former traditional
rulers in all these areas. An attempt in 1808 to take Borno by the jihadists was
successfully repelled by Al Kanemi and so the Kanem Bornu Empire remained
intact. Fodio established the Sokoto Caliphate in the conquered areas.
Britain declared Northern Nigeria her
protectorate in 1900 and, therefore, needed to physically take possession of it.
As of that date, the declaration was, according to Max Siollun, “essentially a
legal fiction.”[17] The
invasion of Northern Nigeria by Lord Lugard and his West African Frontier Force, (WAFF) started in 1901 and the whole of
the Sokoto Caliphate and the hitherto unconquered Middle Belt territories were
defeated by 1903. Max Siollun said that the British conquest of the North had
“added some 20 million people and 500,000 square miles to the British Empire.”[18]
The British did not have enough personnel to
administer such a vast territory. Lugard, therefore, decided to resort to the
use of Indirect Rule, which he had applied successfully in India ad Uganda.
This meant using the Fulani Emirs as Britain's proxy administrators. Emirs were
placed over Middle Belt people whom they did not conquer in the jihads. The
Caliphate’s judicial system of Alkali courts, which applied sharia (Islamic
law), was retained with minor modifications.[19]
Since European Christian Missionaries had already introduced Christianity to
the Middle Belt areas, Indirect Rule foisted Fulani Muslim rulers over Christians,
pagans and animists, who greatly resented it. The Emirs and their agents
overreached their authority. They forced people to convert to Islam, collected
taxes through beating, imprisoned non-Muslims for every minor offence, and
generally despised and discriminated against all non-Muslims. This unfairness
is what inspired the formation of tribal unions and later political parties to
resist the oppression of the Emirs starting from about 1920.
Motion For The Creation Of A Middle Belt Region
One of the greatest missed opportunities happened
on
May 6, 1956, when Mallam Ibrahim Imam from Bornu Province moved a motion on the
floor of the Northern Regional House of Assembly for the creation of a Middle
Belt Region out of the Northern Region. The motion read:
Creation of Middle Belt
Region:
In order to be in keeping with the principle of federalism and to maintain a
smoother administration in the Northern Region, be it resolved, “That the
creation of a Middle Belt Region, comprising Niger, Ilorin, Kabba and Plateau
Provinces, with parts of Southern Adamawa and Zaria, be placed on the agenda of
the Constitutional Conference.[20]
Sadly,
after much debate and vilification of the mover of the motion, Ibrahim Imam,
and his lone supporter, Moses Nyam Rwang, voting on the motion was done and the
result was 2 in favour, 68 against and 5 abstentions. An opposition member who opposed
the Motion said that the name, Middle Belt, was a misnomer. Another queried the
authority of the mover of the motion to speak for the people of the Provinces
listed whereas he hailed from a different Province (Borno). All Middle Belt representatives
from Kabba, Ilorin, Benue, Adamawa, Kaduna and Plateau, except Moses Nyam
Rwang, opposed the motion. In his contribution, Pastor David Lot, then a
Minister without Portfolio, said that the position of his faction of the UMBC
was that a Middle Belt Region was desired by his people, but it was not yet
time to agitate for it. The UMBC was factionalized at the time. Factions went
into alliance with other parties like the NCNC, AG, NEPU and the BYM. It was
one such alliance between the Tarka faction of the UMBC and the BYM that gave Ibrahim
Imam, a Kanuri man from Borno Province the chance to contest elections in 1961 and
won to the Northern House of Assembly to represent Jemgbar, a Tiv constituency,
on the platform of the UMBC. He had been a member of the NPC and Kanuri Youth
Movement (BYM).
Middle Belt Past And
Present Heroes and Heroines
Several
personalities contributed to the development of the Middle Belt consciousness.
Details of their roles and the intricacies of their struggles are outside the
scope of this paper. However, their
names are worth mentioning here. They include but are not limited to, J. S.
Tarka, Pastor David Lot, Moses Nyam Rwang, Jonah Assadugu, Azi Nyako, Isaac
Kpum, Isaac Shaahu, Patrick Dokotri, Bitrus Rwang Pam, Gayus Gilama, Mallam
Haruna Gwamna Awan the Chief of Kagoro, Rwang Pam the Chief of Jos Gbong Gwom
Jos, Michael Audu Buba, P. C. A. Okpanachi, Malam Dauda Kwoi, Abuta Obekpa,
Mary Princewill, Elizabeth Ivase and Parick Davou Fom. They are our past heroes.
More
contemporary contributors would include Solomon D. Lar, Theophilus Y. Danjuma,
Dan Suleiman, Jerry Gana, Bala Takaya, Jonah D, Jang, Sunny G. Tyoden, Samuel
Ortom, Zacharys Gundu, Potter Dabup, Yusufu Turaki, John Dara, Rima K. Shawulu,
Obadiah Mailafia, Paul C. Logams, Mark Jacob, Bitrus Pogu, and many others. We
salute them for their gallantry and leadership.
VICISSITUDES OF THE MIDDLE BELT PEOPLE
Below
are some of the unfair treatments that have been meted out to the Middle Belt
people over the last century or so, which were and still are the sore points
that propelled the people adversely affected into a natural defensive survival
action referred to as the Middle Belt movement today.
1. Infrastructural
development and social amenities were not proportionately allocated in the
Northern Region. The Middle Belt areas received fewer of these. Also, the
Middle Belt people were underrepresentation in Parliament and subjugation under
Muslim Emirs. Complaints about these led to the setting up of Willink’s
Minorities Commission to establish the veracity of the claims.
2. Under
the system of Indirect Rule, the British colonial administration tried to
deliberately bring territories not conquered in the jihad wars under the
Emirate system for their (British) convenience. They succeeded in some places,
but the people opposed the arrangement because the religion of Islam was alien
to them and they had their ruling dynasties. Riots in present-day Benue State,
Plateau State, Adamawa State, Taraba State, Southern Kaduna and Tafawa Balewa
in Bauchi State broke out as a direct result of opposition to this imposed
feudalism.
3. There
was a serious imbalance in representation in the Federal House of
Representatives (FHR) in Lagos, the Northern House of Assembly (NHA) in Kaduna
and the Northern House of Chiefs (NHC) in Kaduna. According to the Nigeria Year
Book 1952, out of the 70 seats in the FHR, only 6 went to Christians, who were
all from the Middle Belt. In the NHA there were 90 seats in all out of which
the Middle Belt had 19 with only 6 of these allocated to Middle Belt Christians
while 13 went to Middle Belt Muslims. Of the 53 members of the NHC, again only
6 were Christians.
4. During
the First Republic, 1960 to 1966, the Premier of the Northern Region was Sir
Ahmadu Bello. The Middle Belt region was denied infrastructural development
like roads, hospitals schools and employment in the civil service just as in
the colonial era. The promotion of non-Muslims in the civil service was slow or
denied completely, while attempts were made to forcefully convert them to Islam.
5. During
successive military regimes, the subtle marginalization and subjugation of the
Middle Belt continued. In the Gowon days, all Christian Missionary schools and
hospitals were forcibly taken over and converted to government property without
compensation. Some State governments have since returned such institutions to
their original owners in dilapidated conditions, like the Vom Christian
Hospital in Plateau State. Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State returned about
112 such schools in 2014. However, some States have refused to return these
institutions and have since changed their names. For example, former St. John’s
College, Kaduna, is now Rimi College, Kaduna; former Queen of Apostles College,
Kaduna, is now Queen Amina College, Kaduna; former St. Faith’s College, Kaduna,
is now Government Girls’ College, Kaduna; former St. Peter’s College, Kaduna,
is now Government College, Kaduna, former Sacred Heart College, Kaduna, is now
Government Secondary School; former St. Paul’s College, Wusasa, Zaria, is now
Kufena College, Zaria; former St. Loius College, Zonkwa, is now Government
Secondary School, Zonkwa; and former St. Loius College, Kano, is now Government
Secondary School, Kano. That unilateral and forceful takeover of Christian
properties without compensation was a direct affront to the Church of God to
weaken it and slow its progress.
6. The
unjustified early retirement of Christian military officers and the rapid
promotion of their Muslim counterparts to key positions have been going on since
the end of the Biafran Civil War in 1970.
7. All
States and Local Government creations were done arbitrarily by Military rulers
and the Middle Belt was deliberately disadvantaged. Core Middle Belt States
ended up with the least number of Local Government Areas (LGAs), thus reducing
our overall Federal subventions and number of seats in today’s parliament.
Also, we have some of the largest electoral wards (INEC Delineation Units) in
the country, thus making our legislators have to win far more votes to get into
the same legislative houses while their counterparts from elsewhere need much
fewer votes. Again, Federal Constituencies were delineated to favor
predominantly Muslim areas
8. The
North-Central Zone (heart of the Middle Belt region) has 51 Federal
Constituencies that send a member each to the House of Representatives, while
the North-West has 92 and the South-West 71. Plateau State has only 17 LGAs and
8 members in the House of Representatives while Kano State has 44 LGS and 24
members. Two important implications of this are (1) Smaller representation and,
therefore, weaker voting power of Middle Beltans in the present Nigerian
National Assembly, Abuja, intentionally induced. (2) The Middle belt is
short-changed in Federal subventions accruing to the 774 Local Governments in
the country. While Kano State LGs receive 44/774 of whatever accrues to all
LGs, Plateau State LGs receive just 17/774 of it. The predominantly Muslim Wase
LGA of Plateau State is the only LGA in the State that constitutes a Federal
Constituency alone, whereas it is not the most populous LGA in the State. Again,
Naraguta Ward B Electoral Ward in Jos is the most populous in the whole of
Nigeria for no justifiable reason except to deny the people more representation
in the legislative arm of government.
9. The
three predominantly Christian LGAs of Dass, Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro in Bauchi
State are always allocated just one Christian Commissioner in the Cabinet of
Bauchi State. This is the constituency that one-time Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, comes from. In 1985 a Judicial Commission
of Enquiry into the Tafawa Balewa chieftaincy crisis recommended the
establishment of the Sayawa Chiefdom but 35 years after, this has not been
done. Instead, the last Bauchi State House of Assembly claims it has amended
the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by relocating the Tafawa
Balewa LG headquarters via an unconstitutional State law.
10. The
autochthonous people of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, have been
complaining of marginalization for years without adequate response from the
Federal Government. The authorities have refused to accord their traditional
rulers recognition. The current Minister of the FCT has gone ahead, against
objections, to appoint a Fulani Emir in Buari when the indigenous people have a
traditional ruler there. They also want some farmland left for their peasant
farmers to live on but the FCDA has been chasing them off all farmland. They
want the Minister of the FCT to be an indigenous person as it applies to
States. They also want the FCT to have Mayor.
11. Christians
and tribal minorities put together are in the majority in the defunct Northern
Region but Hausa, Fulani, and Kanuri Muslims have claimed that they are in the
majority without empirical evidence. Attempts to include the enumeration of
tribe and religion in the 2006 population census exercise were blocked by the
Muslim North for no apparent reason except that their false claim for decades
would be exposed. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) threatened to
direct all Christians in Nigeria to boycott the enumeration exercise if tribe
and religion are not included, but they foolishly succumbed to the Muslim
request.
12. The
1999 Constitution has discriminatory provisions regarding religion. While it
mentions the words or phrases, Islam, Muslim, Grand Khadi and Sharia more than
one hundred times, it does not mention Church or Christian even once. While
Section 10 bars our Governments from promoting one religion over others and
Section 38 guarantees freedom of worship, Sections 275 to 280 make provisions
for Sharia Courts and Customary Courts, which will not rely on our Penal Code
but a Sharia Penal Code. This is a major contradiction in our Constitution. The
same Constitution also defines an adult ambiguously as someone 18 years of age
and above, or any married woman no matter her age.
13. The
war against terrorists, bandits and Boko Haram insurgency is half-hearted. It
appears our soldiers do not want to route them completely for reasons best known
to them. The Military top hierarchy has been accused by other ranks of
financially enriching themselves while the troops are poorly equipped. Several
court-martials have been held, which supports the notion that all is not all well
with the prosecution of the war against the insurgents. Meanwhile, Christianity
is being wiped out of Bornu State and parts of Yobe, Gombe and Adamawa
States.
THE WILLINK’S MINORITIES COMMISSION
During the London Lancaster House
Constitutional Conferences in 1954 and 1957 preparatory to the granting of
Independence, the northern and southern minority ethnic groups expressed fears
of domination by the larger ethnic groups (Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani and
Kanuri) in an independent Nigeria. They, therefore, demanded the creation of
States to replace the then 3 Regions before independence is granted. It was
agreed that a Commission of Enquiry is set up to investigate the claims of
minorities.
The British government appointed Sir Henry
Willink to head the Commission of 7 members. Their report released in 1958 said
the fears of the minorities were genuine, but the Commission refused to approve
the creation of States as requested. Instead, they recommended the inclusion of
appropriate provisions in the Independence Constitution that will take care of
the fears.
The Action Group party provided two lawyers,
Mr. Fani-Kayode and Mr. Rewane.[21]
Some of the complaints and demands of the northern minorities at the various
sittings of the Commission at Ilorin, Jos, Makurdi as captured by Kwewum (2020)[22]
are as follows:
1. At the Jos sitting, Mrs. Mary Princewill told
the Commission that the Native Authority schools taught their children Islamic
doctrine without the consent of their parents. Hausa Muslim women also refused
to eat or associate with Christian women and also referred to them as Kafiri (infidels).
2. Mallam Bot Gwong, who was one-time Wazirin Jos, told the Commission that
Hausa people called them pagans and that he was afraid Christians would not be
allowed to practice their religion when self-governance is granted.
3. Fom Bot, the Chief of Ropp District made the
following disclosures and allegations:
(a) That all the people of his District supported
the creation of a Middle Belt Region for three reasons: (i) The Fulani and
Hausa would dominate them in the future; (ii) They would be denied religious
freedom; and (iii) They would lose their language because Hausa was being
taught all over the Northern Region.
(b) That the institution of Traditional Rulers was
being destroyed through the indiscriminate appointment of non-royal persons by
Hausa Chiefs and abandoning the proper persons for those positions without
recognition or salary to ridicule them.
(c) That there were threats the Hausa language
might become the lingua franca in Northern Nigeria, which would lead to the
languages of the Middle Belt people becoming extinct.
(d) That Middle Belt person feared they might lose
the right to self-determination in an independent Nigeria because Northern
Nigeria would resist the move.
4. Choji Bot testified as follows:
(a) That the Jos Tribal Party, which was
affiliated with the UMBC, was formed to assert the rights of indigenous Berom
people against the large number of Hausa labourers brought in by foreign mining
companies.
(b) That the Fulani had never conquered the Berom
or any other tribe in the whole of Plateau Province,
(c) That the 1954 Constitution had replaced the
British colonialists with the NPC, which was synonymous with the Fulani who
were all Muslims.
(d) That the Jos Tribal Party was afraid the
Fulani would dominate the locals when independence is granted in 1960.
(e) That the Hausa referred to the locals as
“Bakwai” (seven in Hausa language), inferring that one Hausa man was equivalent
to seven pagans.
(f) That the Berom had respected the Hausa people
brought in by European miners but that the Hausa had later tried to dominate
the locals.
(g) That an article appeared in the Gaskiya newspaper on 7th
February 1958 (a copy of the paper was tendered) that suggested that the Chief
of Jos should be moved 50 miles away from Jos.
5. Mr. Fani-Kayode, the UMBC Counsel, summarized
the petition of his clients as being:
(a) Fears by Northern Nigeria minorities that the
Region was being fused into a single racial bloc, would make it difficult for
the minorities to preserve their customs and traditions.
(b) Whether minorities would ever be able to
assert their rights to self-determination and form their Region within a self-governing
Northern Nigeria without British presence because the Northern Government would
surely resist it.
(c) That the then 3 existing Regions were
tribal-based and, therefore, the southern minorities movement (Calabar, Ogoja
& Rivers people) and the northern minorities movement were popular and
justifiable and the demands by these groups are in tandem with feelings in
other parts of the world as in Canada, India, and Pakistan.
(d) That in a racially and linguistically diverse
society, the best bases for state creation should be ethnic and linguistic.
(e) That the people who would constitute the
Middle Belt State would be the people collectively called pagans or kafiris by
Muslims. These are people who were not Hausa or Fulani in the proposed Region.
They were also people whose governmental system was very different from that of
northern Emirates and that of southern Nigeria. They had also been brought
under the rule of Muslim Emirs by force for the administrative convenience of
Lord Lugard’s system of Indirect Rule. Finally, these are people who had
accepted Western Christian Missionaries and their educational system, which the
Hausa had rejected. The people had over 200 main ethnic groups that spoke over
693 dialects.
(f) To the argent that the Middle Belt area was
made up of chaotic tribes with chaotic boundaries, Fani-Kayode debunked it and
explained to the contrary, the area was classified into 4 main groups – (i) the
Ilorin/Kabba (part of) Provinces (comprising Igbirra, Gwari, Igala, Idoma
tribes), (ii) Tiv, Jukun and Arago Tribes. (iii) Bachama, Chamba, Berom, Ankwei,
Angas, Eggon, Yergam (Taroh) up to the southern parts of Bauchi Province, (iv) the
Nupe tribe. It was submitted that the 4 groups shared similar natural and
political structures and tribal marks and had similar religious practices.
6. Patrick Dokotri, General Secretary of UMBC,
gave the following testimony:
(a) Dokotri gave a brief history of the formation
of his party. He said it started in Jos as the Non-Muslim League in 1950 before
changing its name shortly to the Middle Zone League (MZL) with the main aim of
establishing a separate state for the Middle Belt people. The MZL went into
alliance with the NPC on 16th October 1954 to select candidates for
elections, but the NPC reneged on the agreement and fielded its candidates
everywhere. The NPC was also opposed to the idea of a Middle Belt State. The
MZL and the Middle Belt People’s Party (MBPP) merged to form the UMBC in 1955.
Again, the UMBC went into an electoral alliance with the NPC in 1956, which the
NPC again broke. He said even in London during the 1957 Constitutional
Conference, the UMBC had opposed self-governance for the Northern Region in
1960 unless a separate Middle Belt State is created first.
(b) That there are no Native Courts in Jos to
serve the non-Muslim communities., but just Alkali Courts with Muslim judges
applying Islamic law.
(c) That the sale and consumption of alcohol were
banned in the entire Northern Region.
(d) That during the Ramadan month, no refreshments
were served in the Northern House of Assembly to anyone, which was unfair to non-Muslims.
(e) Moses Nyam Rwang, a founding member of the
UMBC and a parliamentarian from 1952 to 1956, agreed with all the testimony of
Patrick Dokotri above.
7. A suggestion that the demand for a separate
State for the Middle Belt people was being championed by Christian missionaries
was denied by Pastor David Lot, a member of the UMBC and Christian clergyman.
8. It was alleged that election results were readily
cancelled whenever the ruling NPC lodged complaints about them.
9. Mr. J. I. Amoka, General Secretary of Igbirra
Parapo, along with Mr. Jimoh Whache and Mr. Zubem Opara all of Igbirra Parapo said
that the Igbirra people were in full support of UMBC’s demand for a Middle Belt
State because they too feared that if they remained in the Northern Region with
the Fulani, they might be given Alkali Courts, which they did not like, and might
also be given Fulani Chiefs in Ilorin.
10. Alhassan Layemi of Kwara Divison in Kabba
Province told the Commission that the Kwara Progressive Union whose members
belong to Bassa Nge, Bassa Kamo and Nupe tribes, were in favour of the creation
of a Middle Belt State because they were all minorities among the Hausa.
11. Mr. Azi Nyako, a Jarawa man from Jarawa
District of Bauchi Province, said he was a Christian and that his people
strongly supported the creation of a Middle Belt State. He added that the
Muslims called them infidels and pagans and so that there was no interaction
between his people and the Muslims because the Muslims rejected them. Alkali
Courts have been established in his area but the people want Magistrate Courts
and native Courts. The Fulani were also in habit of taking their farmlands by
force. Their Jarawa Chiefs also had to go to the Emir in Bauchi to be turbaned
whenever they elected them.
12. M. Indieryo Hull, M. Irumgu and Chief Geidye,
witnesses from Wukari, were suddenly detained for no reason, except to prevent
them from testifying before the Commission. Another witness, Sarkin Keke from
Lafia, had also been detained while other witnesses, who reached Makurdi for
the hearing, had disappeared.
13. Hon. Joseph S. Tarka, a parliamentarian and
leader of the UMBC, who also represents the party at the 1957 London
Constitutional Conference, a Catholic, said the Tiv people fully supported the
creation of a Middle Belt State.
14. Elizabeth Ivase, the only woman who testified
before the Commission, said she was representing Tiv women and Christian women
in general to present their support for the creation of a Middle Belt Region.
She said Christian women were afraid of domination by Muslim women who practised
purdah and so could not get educated. Ivase was then the General Secretary of
the Tiv Christian Women Association and was still a student at the Sacred Heart
College, Kaduna, when she testified.
15. Finally, it was alleged that many people in
the Middle Belt area were too frightened to testify before the Commission due
to fears of reprisals.
Some Recommendations By The Willink’s Minorities Commission:
1.
That no
new States or Regions would be created due to a shortage of manpower.[23]
2.
That a
“Bill of Rights” be included in the 1960 Independence Constitution, which
should take care of the rights of minorities.[24]
3. That Police and Police affairs should be under
the Federal Government's control. Though Native Authority Police operated
alongside the Nigeria Police from 1960 till the military eras, Local Government
Reforms in 1976 removed them. The 1979 and current 1999 Constitutions provide
for only one Nigeria Police Force, which has become grossly inadequate and
contributed to the current state of insecurity in the country. Agitations for
State Police are rife today with almost all States having one form of ramshackle
security or another.
4. That a plebiscite should be introduced to
settle the issue of whether Kabba and Ilorin Provinces should remain in the
Northern Region or be moved to the Western Region. Well, we all know that they
are still very much part of 2 of the 19 northern States as we speak.
5. Non-Muslims in the Northern Region not willing
to be tried under Muslim laws should have an option of other courts.
6. That a Revenue Sharing Formula is established
for the equitable distribution of revenue.
7. That a permanent Electoral Commission is set
up to conduct elections.
8. That the Federal House of Assembly is expanded
to have 320 members each representing a Federal Constituency.
The question of the southern minorities (all
the ethnic nationalities in the Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers Provinces) was
addressed fully with the creation of the Mid-West Region, which is today
represented by the South-South geo-political zone. However, the question of the
northern minorities remains unaddressed and that is why we are holding this
discussion today in 2022.
Here
is an honest assessment by a passionate crusader for the political liberation
of the Middle Belt people, Professor Yusufu Turaki. He wrote:
The
bane of the Middle Belt/Northern Minorities is their ignorance of history and
Nigeria’s political culture. The British founded Nigerian politics upon three
major pillars, which have become Nigeria’s political Goliaths. These three
Goliaths are Ethnicity/Tribalism; Regionalism/Sectionalism; and Religious
Bigotry. Our current political culture is rooted in these three basic
foundations. The combined effect of these political Goliaths has created a
major political obstacle to our national integration, growth and development on
the one hand and politics of social justice, historical freedom and human
equality on the other.[25]
While
fully agreeing with him, I urge Middle Beltans not to shy away from defending
their chosen religion(s), their God-given land and their Middle Belt geographical
region.
It’s
no wonder that the motto of the Middle Belt Forum is Our People, Our Land, Our Heritage.
CONCLUSIONS
1. From the foregoing, it is obvious that the
Middle Belt movement has its roots in Christianity and the search for a Special-Purpose-Vehicle
(SPV) for the northern Nigerian non-Muslim/Fulani/Hausa/Kanuri population
between the 1920s and 1960s. However, many of today’s Middle Belt groups
recognize that some of their kith and kin have imbibed Islam and have,
therefore, included them in the membership of their associations.
2. The Fulani and Hausa Muslims did not form
tribal associations. Of course, they did not them because the impetus for the
formation if a tribal association was to fight the oppression of the Hausa and
Fulani Muslims. But we note that there is today a Hausa Christian Forum (HACFO)
confirming the fears of non-Muslims in the North that Hausa Muslims have
oppressive tendencies even against their tribal non-Muslims.
3. Middle Beltans, especially the Christians
among them, are discriminated against in both public and private sectors in
employment, promotion and appointments.
4. The Middle Belt today has far fewer seats in
the National Assembly in comparison to the far North through the deliberate favoritism
of various Military administrations who created all the States and LGAs we have
today and favored the far North with a higher number of States, LGAs and
Federal Constituencies knowing the advantage this will give them.
5. The Middle Belt movement is very strong
numerically but has not been able to unite enough to wrest political power to
better its people. Even among Middle Beltans, there are sell-outs who, when in
a position to help the Movement make some gains, prefer to please their very
traducers. Such Middle Beltans are sought after and used by the far northerners
as “willing tools.”
6. Some Nigerians, especially in the northern
half of the country, do not like the Middle Belt movement and have blocked it as
in the blocking of the Motion to create a Middle belt region in 1957 in the
Northern Regional Assembly.
7. The Middle Belt movement has recorded some
achievements. But there is a lot more it is supposed to achieve.
8. The military bequeathed to Nigerians a highly
contentious Constitution. The majority of Nigerians are demanding for new
Constitution written by the ethnic nationalities that make up Nigeria.
President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2014 National Conference recommended 600
amendments to it but they have not been implemented up to date.
9. Ethnic cleansing and genocide are being
perpetrated in many areas of Niger, Kaduna, Plateau, Taraba, Benue and Adamawa
States.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. The National Assembly or Presidency should set
in motion the process of drafting a new “People's Constitution” for the
country.
2. Restructure the country so that it has 8
semi-autonomous Regions in a true federal parliamentary system. There should be
a Middle Belt East Region and a Middle Belt West Region created out of the
present 14 states that constitute the Middle belt.
3. The restructured federation should have only
two tiers of government and not three. Local Governments should be Municipal
Councils under Regional Governments as presently operating in the FCT. Regional
Police, Resource control and a unicameral legislature should be part of the
restructuring exercise.
4. State Police are urgently needed in light of
the serious insecurity ravaging the country.
5. Dr. Obadiah Mailafia captured the central
desire of all Middle Beltans in his Vanguard article when he said, “The Middle
Belt stands for a decentralized parliamentary system that devolves more powers
to the people and allows them to participate in the governance process that
shapes their lives and the future of their children.”
6. Demand for a return to the Parliamentary
system of government, which protects minorities better, and the devolution of
the massive powers of the central government to the federating units.
7. Return to regionalism to function as a proper
federation.
8. Future population headcounts should include
tribe and religion to avoid the peddling of false populations for these
variables and have accurate data for planning purposes.
9. Middle belt politicians should register a
political party that they will control the same way that APGA is controlled by the
south Easterners.
10. State
governments still holding on to Missionary schools and other institutions forcefully
taken over during the Gowon regime should either pay for them or return them.
11. The purported change of the Local Government
headquarters of Tafawa Balewa LGA by the Bauchi State House of Assembly was
unconstitutional and should not be allowed to remain.
12. Middle
Beltans should only vote into power politicians who understand our plight and
promise to correct the situation when voted into office.
13. Middle
Belt groups should prepare a list of demands in advance and present these to
presidential candidates and party leaders when they come around campaigning for
their votes.
14. Middle Belt traditional rulers should forge
greater cooperation among themselves.
15. Middle Belt legislators in the two Chambers of
the National Assembly should immediately come together and form a Middle Belt National
Assembly Caucus.
16. Middle Belt legislators should kill the Water
Resources Bill currently before the National Assembly. It is another attempt to
acquire land by the Federal Government to accommodate the terrorists ravaging
the country.
17. Lastly, as of the last count, 13 Middle Belt
groups were seen operating, mainly on social media. It is strongly recommended
that attempts be made to have an umbrella platform on which all of them can
meet for important functions. They could all continue doing what they are doing. One of the groups should take the initiative
by selling this idea to other groups.
---------------oooooooo------------
[1]
History of the Church of Christ In Nationa (COCIN) (2013), COCIN Headqaurters,
Jos. P.41-42
[2] Logams
P, C, (2004), The Middle Belt Movement In
Nigerian Political Development: A Study In Political Identity 1949 – 1967,
Centre for Middle Belt Studies, Abuja, Nigeria.
[3]
Logams (2004), pg 785.
[4]
Coleman J. (1958), Nigeria: Background to
Nationalism, London, pg 18-24.
[5]
Memorandum to the Minorities Commission from the Government of the Northern
Region of Nigeria, Kaduna, December 1957, pg 46-47.
[6] Tyoden
S. G. (1993), The Middle Belt In Nigerian
Politics, AHA Publishing House Ltd; Jos, Nigeria.
[7] Mark
Lipdo (2015), Killings In North &
Central Nigeria, A Threat To Ethno-Religious Freedom & Democracy,
Stefanos Foundation, Jos, (P. 173 - 181).
[8] VANGUARD
Newspapers, “Who is afraid of the Middle Belt?” June 18, 2020, by Obadiah
Mailafia
[9]
Middle
Belt People’s Party, Agenda, First General Conference of the MBPP held at Jos
on July 12 & 13, 1953.
[10] The
Constitution of the Middle Belt Forum, Temporary National Secretariat: No. 2,
Casablanca Street, Off Misrata Street, Off Parakou Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja,
Nigeria. P. vi.
[11] Constitution of the Middle Belt Congress
(2019), 31 Tafawa Balewa Street, Jos.
[12] Willink
H. (1958), Report of the Commission Appointed to Enquire into the Fears of
Minorities and the Means of Allaying Them. London: HMSO.
[13]
Nationalism and Development in Africa (Selected Essays), Published by
University of California Press, 1994.
[14] Logams
P. C. (2004), The Middle Belt Movement In
Nigerian Political Development: A Study In Political Identity 1949 – 1967,
Centre for Middle Belt Studies, Abuja, Nigeria. P.366
[15] Logams
P. C. (2004), The Middle Belt Movement In
Nigerian Political Development: A Study In Political Identity 1949 – 1967,
Centre for Middle Belt Studies, Abuja, Nigeria.
[16] Wikipedia. Accessed August 2, 2022
[17]
Siollun M. (2021), What Britain Did to
Nigeria, Hurst & Co. Publishers Ltd, London, p.157
[18]
Siollun M. (2021), What Britain Did to
Nigeria, Hurst & Co. Publishers Ltd, London, p.175
[19]
Kwewum R. S. (2020), The Middle Belt,
Ndeya Publishing Limited, Abuja, Nigeria.
[20] Pwajok G. N. S. (2012), Moses
Of The Middle Belt, BH Publications, Jos, Nigeria, Pg. 192-193.
[21]
Logams P. C. (2004), The Middle Belt
Movement In Nigerian Political Development: A Study In Political Identity 1949
– 1967, Centre for Middle Belt Studies, Abuja, Nigeria.
[22]
Kwewum R. S. (2020) The Middle Belt (Selected readings), Ndeya Publishing
Limited, Abuja, Nigeria. P.23-65
[23] This recommendation
was violated in 1963 when the Mid-West Region was created out of the then
Western and Eastern Regions while the request for a Middle Belt Region out of
the then Northern Region was rejected.
[24] Those are
the Fundamental Human Rights provisions found in Chapter IV, Sections 33 - 46
of the 1999 Constitution currently in use. Note that these have remained
non-justiciable (cannot be enforced legally) in all Constitutions to date.
[25] Prof. Yusufu Turaki, Unpublished paper titled, “The Place & Plight of the Middle Belt & Minority Ethnic Nationalities in Nigerian Politics, 1st September 2019.
