In this piece by Sebastine Hon Esq of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Middle Belt, MEMB, he takes a critical look at the current restiveness in the middle belt region, with specific emphasis on the emergency rule in Plateau State and concludes that the seeds of discord had long been sown by Nigeria's colonial masters with its policy of divide and rule. He also indicts the Willinks Commission for not advocating for seperate creation of the Middle Belt Region as it did for the Mid-West Region. Hon's position is that for as long as the core north refuses to respect the people of the middle belt, for so long would there be crises in that region.
“THE North may never know peace unless the Middle Belt Region is recognised as a separate entity from the North. Lord Lugard would have created the Middle Belt as a separate entity from the North but some elements in the North manipulated their way...”
With these words, Middle-Belt strongman and PDP chieftain, septuagenarian, Chief Solomon Daushep Lar, ignited in a very robust way, the long-lasting and never exhaustive debate on the relationship between the people of the Middle-Belt and the core north. Pronto, the core north which loathes any person broaching or propagating the idea of a separate Middle-Belt region, reacted, as usual, in a rather hasty and damaging manner. Mallam Ismaila Isa Funtua fired the first salvo thus:
“Lar is an elder statesman. In the recent past, he has been saying all kinds of things but we refused to join issues with him. It is most unfortunate that he was saying that the North has to be divided into two with his so-called Middle-Belt Region separately carved out. He also said there will be no peace unless Middle-Belt Region is allowed to be. Any pikin wey say him mother no go sleep, he too no go sleep.”
As shall be shown later in this piece, this rather swift and sharp reaction, especially coming from someone who is to serve on a reconciliation team of the Arewa Consultative forum (ACF) to the Plateau State (Chief Lar’s State of origin), is very weighty, historically and empirically. Also worthy of note is the reaction of the ever ubiquitous Alhaji Wada Nas, who simply said that the core North can do without the Middle-Belt.
If viewed from historical and empirical factors, therefore, one would draw an inevitable conclusion that all the dramatis personae, including, of course, Chief S.D. Lar, were only echoing the feelings of the peoples of the Middle-Belt and the core north, respectively. For, from time immemorial, the battle for the sole of Northern Nigeria has defied all solutions, including the State creation exercises carried out by past governments, starting from General Yakubu Gowon in September 1967. It is, therefore, important to do a vivid resume of the historical realities that have snowballed into these cat and mouse tactics employed by both sides.
There is no doubt that from time immemorial, there have been two North — one “core” and the other peripheral. The “core” north is made up of the popular “Hausa Bakwai” nation-states, while majority (if not all) of the “Hausa Banza” states, including other nation-states that had nothing to do with the Hausa fiefdom, formed the bulk of the Middle-Belt. That is why till date, if there is any ethno-religious war or skirmish in the north, Christians, animists and even Muslims from other parts of the ‘north’ including those from the “Hausa Banza” are not spared by their “brothers” from the “Hausa Bakwai” who are good with the former during peace times, only to stab them on the back, at the slightest ‘provocation.’ This, as shall be shown later in this piece, was the origin of the mutual lack of trust and suspicion in the ‘north’ of modern-day Nigeria, which traversed the Uthman Dan Fodio Jihad, the skewed colonial administration of the North, up to modern times.
By the time Uthman Dan Fodio had launched his Jihad in the early part of the 19th century, therefore, a silent but resilient culture of resistance had developed among the people who were later to be termed “Middle-Belters”, so much so that the ensuing wars of conquest embarked upon by Dan Fodio and his co travellers were met with stiff resistance. Thus, while the Jihad was successful among the “Hausa Bakwai”, it was a near-failure in some nation-states of the “Hausa Banza” and a total failure in the animist and then minutely Christian north.
For instance, while the Nupe, Ilorin, Igala and Igbirra (i.e. North West South) campaigns of the Jihad were partially successful, the North Central South and North East-South campaigns were a total failure, thereby aggravating the existing fierce cultural and ethno-religious differences that predated the Jihad. In short, the failure of the Jihad in the central and eastern parts of the so-called North has formed, in historical terms, the bulwark of the acrimonious relationship between the core north (flag bearers of Uthman Dan Fodio) and the Middle-Belt agitators (flag bearers of loose nation-states which loathed and fiercely opposed the Jihad).
This is a battle that truly has an origin but is not likely to have an end, except by divine intervention or if one side capitulates. (Readers should note that I stand on the path of peace, predicated on mutual respect for one another’s culture and religion, hence I am not happy that historical factors have plunged the ‘north’ into a journey without a destination). During the colonial era, Lord Lugard and his British conspirators greatly enhanced the expansionist tendencies of the core north, by muzzling the Middle-Belt. A colonial health worker, Professor Robert Collis, captured this more tersely in his book, entitled “Nigeria in Conflict”, London, 1970, at page 87,thus:-
“It was the British, however, who later, when establishing the Regions of Nigeria, included officially in the Northern Region both the Plateau and the Middle Belt, e.g. tribes such as the Nupes, Tivs, Igalas, Idomas, and from the Plateau Angas, Birom and Sura”.
Also, in his book; “But Always as Friends”, London (1969) at pages 332-340, Sir Bryan Sharwood Smith, former Governor-General of Northern Nigeria gave many reasons why there was a strong craving for a Middle-Belt Region. He hinged this ultra strong quest on ethnic, cultural and religious factors. At page 332, he opined that “The six provinces which lay within this belt differed in many ways from their Northern neighbours”. And at page 333, he opined that “The ‘Middle-Belt’ movement owed its strength more to a mass state of mind, based on genuine fear (of domination by the core north), than to specific causes” (Brackets supplied). At page 334, he offered thus:- “Apart from feeling that they were treated as second-class citizens by Muslims in general the non-Muslims ... maintained that they were grossly neglected, in comparison with the emirates, in the matter of schools and hospitals and roads and other public services and second, that under Islamic law to which large members of them were subject they were, as Christians or pagans, under a permanent disability”.
These views, I submit most firmly, are very germane to the struggles for the realisation of a separate Middle-Belt identity. Unfortunately, acting as willing tools, British imperialists (including, of course, Sir Smith himself), did nothing to assuage the feelings of the Middle-Belters, referred in derogative terms as “northern minorities”. Indeed, the British colonial government actively supported this structural imbalance, thereby directly or indirectly hardening the Hausa-Fulani protagonists against their fellow ‘brothers’ the Middle-Belters.
A few examples will prove this point. As the struggles for a separate Middle Belt region waxed stronger, Constitutional Conferences were summoned by the British colonialists in London and elsewhere between 1957 and 1958. Even though all other topical issues were resolved pursuant to a handover from colonial to indigenous rule, the nagging issue of minority rights (including of course, Middle-Belt struggles) was rather sluggishly and most shockingly referred to a minorities’ commission that was to be later empanelled.
On 26th September, 1957, the British Secretary of State constituted a five-man commission, headed by Henry Willink. The other members of this commission otherwise called the “Willinks Commission,” were Gordon Hadow, Philip Mason and J.B. Shearer, while K.J. Hilton was to act as its Secretary. The Commission’s terms of reference were that the Commission should:
(a)Ascertain the facts about the fears of minorities in any part of Nigeria and to propose means of allaying those fears, whether well or ill-founded.
(b) Advise what safeguards should be included for this purpose in the Constitution of Nigeria.
(c) If, but only if, no other solution seems to the Commission to meet the case, then as a last resort to make detailed recommendations for the creation of one or more new States.
(d) Report its findings and recommendations to the Secretary of State for Colonies.
After sitting in various locations in Nigeria and after carefully considering memoranda submitted to it, the Commission, In July, 1958, submitted a report to the Secretary of State for Colonies. At page 34 of the report, the Commission found thus:
“In general, it is our view that desire for (a) State is strong in Benin City and Benin Division, the heart of the Benin Kingdom”. And because the Western Regional Government had no qualms if a State were created for the western minorities, the Commission, though at pains, recommended on page 32 of its report that a State be created for the mid-western people “as a last resort and if there appeared to be no other means of allaying the fears of minorities.”
As regards the then Eastern Region as well, the Commission found at page 46 of the report that the NCNC-led government of Eastern Nigeria had always supported the idea “that Nigeria needs a strong Federal Government and should consist of an increased number of smaller states ... .“ And at page 47, the Commission summarised the feeling of the Eastern Nigeria Government - to the effect that it had “no serious objection to the formation of an Ogoja State, nor of Rivers State, nor of a Cross River State”. In spite of this, the Commission, at page 51 of the report, refused to recommend for creation of States for the eastern minorities. As with the case of the northern minorities, this singular omission sowed a very strong seed for the less salutary relationship that has continued to exist between the south-eastern minorities and the Ibos till date.
The findings of the Commission regarding the aspirations of the northern minorities were most appalling, yet revealing. At page 55 of the report, the Commission observed quite frankly thus:-
“The British officers who succeeded the first administrators under Lugard were scrupulous to observe all his promises and the Northern Region has remained behind the protective wall of the colonial Government as an Islamic society, singularly unaffected by change in the rest of the world .... It is argued by the NPC that the tradition of the North, in which Islam and the Hausa Language both play a part, is a unifying element, tribal parties are formed to represent local interests, but they ally themselves, it is claimed, with the Northern People ‘s Congres!”
And at page 71 of the report, the Commission explained that “The proposal for the Middle Belt State ... was contested hotly by the government of the Northern Region on the lines we have already indicated”.
Quite expectedlly, therefore, in rejecting claims for a Middle-Belt State, the Commission, at page 73 of its report, recommended that the northern minorities should align themselves with the NPC-led government, especially with “the position of the Federation in relation to minorities and with principles regarding human rights which should be included in the Constitution”. The case of the Middle-Belters was, therefore, referred to a Constitution that was yet to be enacted, and which when enacted, did not contain any special safeguard concerning the fears and aspirations of Middle-Belters and the south- eastern minorities.
Suffice it to say at this juncture, therefore, that it was this colonial conspiracy that saw the western minorities growing up very quickly to catch up with the Yorubas, thereby creating a very peaceful and an enabling environment in the defunct Western Region, a privilege the northern and eastern minorities were denied of and an advantage the two defunct Regions have also robbed themselves of.
What more? The northern and eastern minorities were and have still been regarded as second class citizens, a position which if not addressed will, as Chief Lar has stressed, lead to serious implosions (in the two regions). Although I cannot speak for the south-eastern minorities, as a person based in Port Harcourt, I know very well that it will be an understatement to say that the south-eastern minorities are having a fever-pitch acrimonious relationship with the Ibos, no thanks to discriminatory colonial policies explained above.
Sensing that the colonial government was behind it, the Northern Regional government unleashed unprecedented terror and a deliberate campaign of oppression against the Middle-Belters for being bold enough to request for a vindication of their rights. The Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello (K.B.E., M.H.A.) was to later celebrate the pyrrhic victory of the ‘North’ secured through the instrumentality of the Willink’s Commission at pages 215-216 of his book, “My life” Cambridge (1962), thus:
“The most embarrassing Commission was the one on the minorities. This wandered round the Country listening patiently to scores upon scores of people who thought, for one reason or another, that their area should be carved out of the Region in which it then lay, claiming that they did not get a fair deal from the party in power in the Region. There were three groups which made the most noise: two of these were in the other Regions and need not concern us, but the third was the group advocating the so-called ‘Middle Belt’ ... The Commission produced a very lengthy report, of which the Northern section occupied about one-third of its volume. They made some suggestions about the Eastern and Western Regions, which are only just being implemented, but agreed that the North should be left as it was. They did not accept the proposals put forward to constitute a Middle Belt Region and were against any interference with our boundaries. We therefore had no reason to complain of their findings. Since then the whole agitation had died away into a few infrequent rumblings on the horizons of the Tiv Division and the Birom country of the High Plateau.
Can you see the crux of the matter? Thus, though I highly disagree with the late respected Sir Ahmadu Bello that the agitation “had died away into a few infrequent rumblings on the horizons of the Tiv Division and the Birom country of the High Plateau” (for the Middle Belt agitation had even before 1962 and till date, caught up with a larger area of influence), it is true that Benue and Plateau State still remain the hotbed of stiff opposition to domination by the core north. Arid except the fears of the so-called northern minorities are assuaged, be they in Kebbi, Sokoto, Kano, Zamfara, Jigawa, Borno, Katsina, etc., the north will truly not know peace.
Again as said above, this is not an invitation to chaos but is a general statement loaded with historical, cultural and empirical facts. This is an issue that is beyond Chief Lar or any leader of the Middle-Belt. It is an issue that is at the very heart of even common folks within the Middle-Belt. Our dear core northerners, do not let the suspect support and alliance you are enjoying from the likes cf General Jerry Useni, General Yakubu Gowon, Senator Joseph Waku, etc, deceive you that you have already pocketed the Middle-Belt. Till tomorrow, if you do not learn to respect the collective aspirations of the Middle-Belters, forget it. Please take this as the stark reality or leave it.
Talking tough, as did the late Sardauna, did not stop the Tiv resistance of 1960-64 which led to the eventual collapse, to the chagrin of us all, of the lst Republic. Talking tough over the years has not helped bring unity and reassurance to the so-called Northern Region. Talking tough has not cowed the people of the Plateau, Southern Kaduna, Southern .Kebbi, Southern Bauchi, Southern Borno, Gombe, etc. Rather, this has hardened them stiff.
On the other hand, compromise, mutual respect for one another and general good neighbourliness has worked well even for the so-called Northern Region. Examples will suffice here. First, as shown above, the Mid-West is at par with the West today in human resources and other vital areas of human endeavour, thanks to the respect the Western Region had for the people of the Mid-West, even when the former had the opportunity of behaving otherwise. Secondly, the extension of an olive branch by the core north to the late J.S. Tarka in 1979 made Tarka to momentarily jettison the Middle-Belt and team up with the core north to form the National Party of Nigeria, ‘N.P.N., much to the chagrin of Tarka’s co-travellers on the Plateau. Though I won’t concern myself with discussing the implication of this move by Tarka, I will submit here that it only proves one point: I will accord you respect only when you learn to also respect me. The examples are many.
In conclusion, without respect for the Middle-Belt, it is difficult, as Chief Lar said, for there to be peace in the so-called North. It is not an issue of pikin-mother relationship, because the question will be asked: who is the pikin here and who is the mother? In case the self-imposed imperialists from the north forget, that the wild, wild West could rush into a war with Iraq, ferry its President out of Iraqi territory and, in spite of its intimidating war arsenal, suffer a debilitating humiliation on a daily basis is a pointer to the fact that momentary advantage over a person or a group of persons does not indicate that that other person does not possess tricks or powers of his own. The Middle-Belt may look powerless and indeed devastated - no thanks to GENERAL OLUSEGUN OBASANJO’S actions against the Tiv nation and the Plateau, but that does not mean the region is finished or that it has no options. It does have. The living God whom the Middle Belt serves is still very much alive and shall act at His time and in a manner the whole of humanity will marvel. Let those who have ears to hear, hear very well.
