As Nigeria marks its 64th Independence anniversary, a Coalition of Indigenous Middle Belt Ethnic Organisations (CIMBO) has noted that over 400 indigenous ethnic nationalities in the Middle Belt, with an estimated population of over 40 million people, are marginalised in the nation’s socio-political arrangements.
To this end, the coalition urged President Bola Tinubu to brave the storm and give the country and the people a new lease of life from the stranglehold of a few, who are believed to have held the nation to ransom.
Addressing a press conference in Kaduna, the Chairman of CIMBO, Mr. Timothy B. Gandu disclosed that the marginalised ethnic groups, cut across Adamawa, Benue, Gombe, Kaduna, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Taraba and fringes of other Northern States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“While some Nigerians are marking the nation’s independence with fanfare, the ethnic groups of the Middle-Belt are groaning under the suffocating weight of internal domination, exploitation and marginalization derivable from the political structure called indirect rule that was left behind by the British.
“The British in 1958, two years before the political independence of Nigeria, got ‘the Minorities Commission Report’, which was written with a view to granting the ‘Minorities’ as the Middle-Belt was called, the right to have regions or a region of its own. It is on record that Dr. J.M. Muffet, the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) and the British government connived and denied the Middle-Belt a region separate from the North. In a similar vein in 1963, when the Mid-West region was created, once again, the Middle-Belt was denied a region. In 2014, the much heralded National Conference recommended the creation of 8 States in the Middle-Belt. It is a matter of regret that this recommendation has not been acted upon.
“On the occasion of the 64th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence, the Middle-Belt is calling on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the National and State Assemblies to heed its cry for equity, fairness and justice. The voice of the Middle-Belt cannot and will not be drowned. Its people will continue to demand for redress. A tolerant people should not be taken for granted because they may not always be a peaceful people.”
He then echoed the call to be known as the Middle Belt and not North, West, East or South of Nigeria adding, “We demand that the 2014 National Conference report be activated, our indigenous ethnic groups are tired of the mischief of being referred to as the ‘Minorities’ of the North.”
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