[size=14pt]Jonathan’s Purported Aspiration : Why the Middle Belt is now for South-South, by Ameh Ebute[/size]
Interview Aug 8, 2010

*Gives reasons why Jonathan must contest
*Insists Middle Belt was deliberately underdeveloped

[b]Senator Ameh Ebute may not command the feisty, bullish mannerism of a radical but his thoughts are! Leading a new coalition - National Movement for Equality and Change – Ebute, who replaced Iyorchia Ayu as Senate President at the height of the annulment of the June 12 Presidential elections won by MKO Abiola, insists that what his group is doing now is not about opportunism. “What informed this movement is the fact that Nigeria has existed for 50years and we also discovered going through history, that a particular area of the country had dominated governance and the political leadership of the country. We also realized that suddenly, something happened and somebody from somewhere, in the person of President Goodluck Jonathan, after the demise of our beloved President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua that he should not contest and people wanted to use zoning as one of the reasons for stopping him from contesting. In conceiving the idea of zoning, it was meant to stop injustice and bring equity to everybody in the country and if that is the interpretation of zoning and since Yar’Adua is no more, then what it means is that that office should go to another zone. Assuming that President Yar’Adua was alive, nobody would have been arguing that the office of president should go to another zone.
“Yar’Adua would have spent his eight years just like Obasanjo did. But he is no more”.
Ebute is working with minorities of the Middle Belt and other parts of the country to bring to fruition the aspiration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan at the polls next year. But will they succeed? Ebute says yes because the votes of the minorities have always been instrumental in installing past presidents. Slow speaking but logical, you would enjoy Ebute’s views:[/b] Excerpts:
By Jide Ajani, Deputy Editor
You’ve been quiet for a while in the polity and suddenly, there is this fire in you now. Where is it coming from after all these years? Some say it’s opportunism?
You’ve fired me with two loaded questions. First you said I’ve been quiet and now you say there’s fire but it looks like opportunism.
Well, the truth is that professionally I’m a legal practitioner and I was called to the bar in 1975. My legal practice has been intermittent until 2003 when I took a sabbatical to once again settle down and since then I’ve settled down and decided to ignore whatever was happening around me until this issue of zoning surfaced and I was aggrieved by the comments of many people and decided to make my own views known.
But for those who see Nigeria as a work-in-progress – and that is where the issue of opportunism I mentioned comes in, why would a personality like you decide to ignore everything around you, in a country that is still far from being right and suddenly you jump on the bandwagon of zoning?

Yes, the country needs me but I should be able to feed myself first and as you are aware, no provision has been made for past principal officers of the National Assembly and I had to work to feed myself and family. And the legal practice is what I know how to do best and that is what I use in feeding my family.
There has been a serious paradigm shift. Look at those we have today as legislators, the first thing they legislate is all manner of allowances and remunerations Was it that it didn’t occur to your generation of legislators to secure your future by legislating for benefits and pensions?
You know that the presidential system took off in Nigeria in 1979. So, when I participated as a senator, the system was new in the country and that was why it did not occur to us to make laws to take care of the principal officers of the National Assembly and thereafter we discovered that other arms of government – the executive and the judiciary are adequately remunerated even after service.
Other legislators came after us and eventually a law was made but Olusegun Obasanjo refused to sign it until he left office. So that is why we are still where we are as far as our remuneration. The law has not been made. Up till now the law has not been made, they are still in the process of making the law.
So, there is hope?
We have been hoping upon hope.
Back to the issue of opportunism: What informed this new movement?
What informed this movement is the fact that Nigeria has existed for 50years and we also discovered going through history, we also discovered that a particular area of the country had dominated governance and the political leadership of the country. We also realized that suddenly, something happened and somebody from somewhere, in the person of President Goodluck Jonathan, after the demise of our beloved President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, that he should not contest and people wanted to use zoning as one of the reasons for stopping him from contesting. If you go into the dictionary to check what zoning means. In conceiving the idea of zoning, it was meant to stop injustice and bring equity to everybody in the country and if that is the interpretation of zoning and since Yar’Adua is no more, then what it means is that that office should go to another zone. Assuming that President Yar’Adua was alive, nobody would have been arguing that the office of president should go to another zone. Yar’Adua would have spent his eight years just like Obasanjo did. But he is no more.
Naturally, I think considering everything and the prevailing circumstances, I think the office should go to another zone. It shouldn’t go to another person in that zone who may come up with the argument that he is constitutionally guaranteed to run for that office for two terms. The argument would then be that the new person from that zone is constitutionally covered to run for two terms.
Zoning does not belong to an individual and people should not just come out and push the argument some people are pushing that the zoning should remain in the North West for another four years.
If Yar’Adua had been alive, nobody would have been making the case as we are doing now for a shift. He would have done his eight years. And since zoning is a product of equity, fairness and justice, there is nothing wrong in zoning remaining years to the South South where the incumbent who has a constitutional right to contest is from.

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Continued

There seems to be a problem with the argument for Jonathan. The argument is mundane because apart from hearing people say he is from the South South, nobody seems to be selling the man. If you were to sell him, what are those qualities you would want Nigerians to relate with?
Zoning apart, if I were to sell Jonathan as a candidate I would argue, by first letting the people know that comparatively, in tems of contemporary leadership in Nigeria, age is very much on the side of Jonathan. But that is the least of the points. If you take a look at his person since he took over and this goes beyond the shores of Nigeria, Jonathan has been widely applauded for presenting the mien of a deeply thoughtful leader, especially from the way he conducts himself. We’ve had leaders in this country who behaves as if other people are not wise or smart. President Goodluck Jonathan listens and that is one of the qualities you expect to see in a leader.
Again, look at his swift response to the issue of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, when the alarm was raised regarding his inadvertent appointment of PDP members as INEC national commissioners, he quickly changed them.
If you again look at his programme of action for the country, you will find out that he has the interests of the generality of Nigerians at heart. He has paid attention to the problem of the bad roads in the country, he has also paid particular attention to the issue of power supply in the country and if given time, I’m sure he would perform maximally. Unlike some leaders that we’ve had in this country in the past who failed to listen to people’s complaints.

Coming from Benue, when you look at the forces that have produced presidents in this country, apart from the votes of the minorities of the North, the South South have almost always aligned with the North. Does it not appear strange that the same North is the one antagonizing President Jonathan’s aspiration?
The problem with that alliance is that the word North has been interpreted to mean many things to so many people at the same time.
The word North is meant to include the Middle Belt, the North Central zone but we in that zone have discovered over the years that it does not necessarily include us and, therefore, we have to chart our own course and this means aligning with other people of like minds from other zones who believe that in the last 50 years, we have been taken for a ride and cheated in so many respect: We’ve been cheated in terms of political leadership, we’ve been cheated in terms of physical and economic development.
Immediately you leave the South Eastern states and you step into Benue State, you step into a completely different country until you get to Abuja here. But Abuja has developed because it is the Federal Capital Territory. But immediately you step outside of the South East and you step into Benue and straight up to the North, including Taraba State, to the North East to part of Kaduna State, it’s a completely different country. If you go to the South West, it is another country all together.
If you go to Kano, Sokoto, you are in a different country so we live in the same country but we have four to five different countries in terms of development and mentality and that is as a result of the economic neglect, especially of the Middle Belt.
We in the Middle Belt have now come to the conclusion that our interest must be redefined.
But the way your group has been talking, it is as if at the end of the day, the Middle Belt will relocate and become part of the South! You will still remain in the Middle Belt?
Yes, we are geographically a part of the North but in terms of political interests we have always been excluded from the scheme of things and we want to re-examine that relationship now.
Even right now, not everybody agrees with this theory that North is one whole. Not everybody has also agreed that some areas of the North, particularly the Middle Belt has been neglected and quite a number of the indigenes of the Middle Belt are with the far northern political leaders and you can see the names of people who believe in that philosophy, but some of us do not believe in that philosophy that North is one. North is one only when it comes to voting. But after voting, the dividends of voting do not come to the Middle Belt at all.
If you look at the North Central States like Benue, Kogi, Kwara and Nasarawa, the Governors of those states are almost always in the ruling political party. What developments have they engendered?
The developments are defined. You have federal projects and you have state projects. In terms of federal projects, the whole of the Middle Belt is neglected. The states within the Middle Belt do not have enough resources to develop their area. Even the states in the far North do not have enough resources to develop their areas. But the federal presence in those States in the far North are more than the presence of Federal Government in these Middle Belt states and without the assistance of the Federal Government, it would be difficult for the Governors of the various States within the Middle Belt to develop and catch up with the other areas that are developed.
The absence of those basic facilities like industries has permanently held the Middle Belt down because they have to go out to look for employment and there is no Federal Government industry. Everybody, after finishing school, you have to go to either Lagos, Kano or Kaduna to go and look for job and that makes us permanently blacklisted in terms of development.
Apart from economic development, you have the development of the people and the development of the politicians themselves. We have discovered over the years that when you assist certain personalities to come to office, at the end of the day, people from the Middle Belt don’t get profitable contracts as other people from other side. That is holding us down indirectly.
Apart from the issue of contract, you come to positions in the Federal Ministries where we are relegated to the background. So, with all these things put together, we think that we should have a second look at our political relationship and the way we support politicians so that we can support politicians that will take care of our interest and the little problems that we have in the Middle Belt. This is what is going to inform our support for any politician now. But of course some of us believe that we have not been maltreated in anyway and they still want to go far with their far Northern brothers.

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Continued

Why haven’t these governors pressed the Federal Government or pushed for more development from the leaders of their parties at various times? Are you saying your governors fail you or can not pull their weight within those parties?
Apart from being in the ruling party, we have consistently made the President from the majority areas. If you look at the vote counts in this country from 1998, 2003 to 2007, the votes of the minority areas from the Middle Belt have consistently placed or installed the President. But after installing them, the Middle Belt is completely neglected in terms of physical and human development.
When I was in the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriation, we appropriated money for the construction of a road from Iyahe in Cross River State, passing through Oturkpo to Abuja and beyond. But the contract was never awarded, in spite of the fact that there was a line vote for the construction of this road, the governors cannot go to the Federal Ministry of Works and tell any Minister to award the contract for that particular road. What happens is that when votes are made in the budget, the President will give instructions to the Minister to award a specific contract and that is where the problem comes.
So, I do not blame the Governors. I blame any Governor who has not taken steps to develop his State within the limited resources that he has. Our government for now is trying its best, but the State government cannot go far without the assistance of the Federal Government.
As I’m speaking to you now, there is no Federal Government industry, no federal government project that I can point at. The Jos Rolling Mill, I don’t know whether it still exists or dead now. Benue State Company has been sold off. That is where we are.
Back to the issue of zoning, if the party was going to change its mind after that expanded caucus meeting of December 22, 2002, wouldn’t it have been better to admit in the first instance to say that ‘we agreed on it as at that time, but present realities now make it imperative that we have to change’, instead of living in denial?
When leaders of a particular political party strategize for the purpose of winning an election, you cannot describe that as an agreement or zoning. I’m not aware of where there was a gentleman’s agreement in 2002 that the presidency should be zoned to the North. When Obasanjo was elected President in 1999, there was no agreement that the presidency should be zoned to the Southwest.
Obasanjo just came from the prison to be made President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and when he was going, nobody mentioned anything about zoning. Peter Odili was contesting the presidency, just as every other person was contesting the presidency from all over the country. But all of a sudden, Obasanjo decided to give the presidency to Yar’adua because of the elder brother, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, who died in prison in Abakaliki and Obasanjo said he wanted to compensate the family.
Nobody talked about zoning when all the people that came out to contest the Presidency were asked to withdraw on the order of President Obasanjo and Umar Yar’Adua became the only candidate. Why didn’t they talk of zoning that time? Assuming that there was an agreement – although I dispute that there was an agreement – that the presidency should be zoned to the North, and unfortunately, the President from the place it was zoned to died, does it mean that the presidency should remain in that particular zone to the exclusion of all other zones? Is it not the individual that occupied office that should remain in that office for eight years?
Does it mean that in spite of all other things, the presidency should remain in that place? It means that if another person comes, that person will now come up with the argument that he will remain in office for another eight years because Obasanjo was in office for eight years. That will be making nonsense of the zoning in the country. Of course, do not forget that when the “North” talks of zoning, what they have in mind is a particular area alone and not the Middle Belt. They do not have us in mind that the zoning will ever come to us.
So, that is why we are charting the course that we are charting because we know that we are not put into the estimation of the zoning they are talking about. When the chips are down and the presidency is zoned to the so-called North, they’ve already earmarked the person that they want the zoning to favour.
The argument came up after the demise of Yar’Adua. When Yar’Adua was alive, nobody argued that the zoning should go to another zone because he should have been in office for eight years. But immediately after his demise, the question came up as to whether the Northwest should retain the zone or North. This is why the argument is coming up now and not earlier.
But there are those who are from the Middle Belt, also who make very strong arguments in favour of zoning just as you are making the same argument against zoning in this context?
The old leaders said we are necessary followers and that we are not entitled to anything in Nigeria; we are automatically taken as followers of the far Northern Nigeria. We were not taken into consideration in anything and that is why we – I don’t know of those people you are talking about – are trying to redefine the word North.
But why do you politicians always distrust one another. Even President Jonathan that you’re supporting, what is the guarantee that he would not disappoint like those before him?
Well, that is the beauty of democracy. Even if Jonathan is elected and for the four years, he fails to perform, definitely, the people will have to talk and the presidency will go to another zone. That is why democracy is better than any other form of government.
You shouldn’t forget that four years are just there by the corner and at the end of the four years, definitely, people will voice out the fact that he has not performed (that is if he does not perform but I believe that he would perform) and we will look at another candidate from another zone. That is why PDP says power belongs to the people. At the end of the four years, we will now evaluate what he has done and if he has failed completely, definitely nobody will support him any more.

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Continued

Which PDP? PDP which, when they shout the slogan, ‘PDP’, people respond by saying ‘Share The Money’. In fact, some believe that PDP is the problem of Nigeria?
I wouldn’t agree that PDP is the problem of this country. It’s a mere allegation.
It is not. The party has been in power since 1999 at the federal level and even in the states the party controlled and still controls more than75% of the governors in the country and, of course, the legislature?
The perceptions arose because of the performance of the individual that was the President.
Individual! Mention his name now – Olusegun Obasanjo?
He was the person who was elected as President, he failed as a human being and not the PDP as a party. The PDP is not a human being. PDP is an association of persons on whose platform a person always contests election. If that person fails to perform to the expectation of the generality of Nigerians, that doesn’t mean that the PDP has failed. It is the person who was in office on the platform of the party that has failed. That is my own theory.
It still sounds funny. You say it is an individual or the individuals who have failed and not the PDP. But the PDP is the aggregation of these individuals you have talked about. And to think that Nigerians invested so much h ope and expectations in President Obasanjo and many of those elected public office holders at that time?
Between 1999 and today, I would say a lot of improvements have been made. Every year, you make improvements. But the fact is that the level of improvements made may not be as expected. But if the developments made are not according to the wishes of the people, then they will tell you that nothing has happened at all.
That is part of the paradox of the Nigerian nation. Your party still finds a way to get back to power?
The aspirations were not met and people still voted for the PDP because of the level of poverty in the country.
I didn’t say people voted, I said PDP still found a way to get back to power?
We get back to power because the PDP is in power and they are in control of State funds. The candidates most of whom come from the PDP have money to mobilise the voters and this is why PDP continues to win. But unfortunately, the level of poverty in the country, especially in the rural areas, is such that you may not have an election that is not manipulated as a result of who has more money than the other.
In fact that is the point to be made now. The new chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is saying that time is of essence in the quest for an election that would not be manipulated. But then, some are arguing that the timing, both constitutionally and the time left for litigation as enshrined in the amended constitution should be such that it would…?
(Cuts in) I want to argue on the point of view of the fact that the time fixed for newly elected public office holders to be sworn in is a constitutional matter and the Constitution should not be easily amended to extend the time for which political actors should come to office. I believe that between now and April of next year is sufficient for the new Chairman of INEC to put everything in place and conduct election with a view to enabling the new administration come in on May 29. So, the issue of extending the period in office does not arise.
That would be breaching the Constitution and for them to amend the Constitution to extend the period of stay. To me that is suicidal because you cannot make laws that favour you alone without favouring other members of the society. I don’t think the National Assembly will agree to amend the Constitution to extend the time that elections will be conducted. It’s not proper and that is a breach of the Constitution.

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Continued

Back to this your Movement for Equality and Change?
Let me tell you, our movement is mainly an ideological movement. We would like to appeal to all Nigerians that after having existed for 50 years, it is time for us to do things with our neighbours in mind. We should have gone beyond the time that people should arrogate whatever, be it political power, be it economic development or award of contracts to themselves alone. It is time for us to work on the basis of equality that all human beings are born equal and that equality and change should be the basis of activities in this country.
If we are able to spread that gospel, then you will see that the pattern of votes will change in this country. We should be able to identify people who have arrogated political power to themselves and have developed their own areas at the expense of other areas. This is the sole purpose. You will realize people who have never held the presidency of this country throughout the period of 50 years, who will now want to aspire and at the appropriate time, when you have people from this areas wanting to aspire for the presidency, Nigerians will say yes, let us support them because they have never had any turn before. Let us not go to the zone that has had it several times and nothing has changed in this country.
If members of our own society, including Jonathan is elected as President of this country, the fortunes of this country will be realized. The campaign we are going to do in the country is to appeal to the morals of our brothers and Nigerians in general that things should be done equally. We should all take ourselves as brothers and sisters. We are not saying that anybody should not aspire to the office of the President but we are saying give chance to those that have never been President before.
Part of the problem of those people insisting on zoning is that Obasanjo, who, because of zoning barred other people from contesting in 2007, is the one now saying there is nothing like zoning. That is one. The other issue is that there is the fear in some quarters that Obasanjo might serve as a polluting agent, he might pollute Jonathan and make him do things his own way?
Obasanjo is more of a problem than a solution to Jonathan.
What was that? What did you just say?
Yes! Obasanjo is more of a problem to Jonathan because people don’t want to see Obasanjo around Jonathan. But history is very important. Obasanjo helped in the first place to make Jonathan the Vice President of Yar’Adua.
Now, for somebody who has helped you previously, it is not morally right for Jonathan to tell Obasanjo to go away from him. So, he will continue to take his advice. If I’m in Jonathan’s shoe, I will not have the moral fortitude to drive Obasanjo away from me. Anybody has the right to go close to the President of his own country.
So, what should Jonathan do in this instance?
He should find a way to manage Obasanjo.
You know, in those turbulent days of June 12 and the drama which happened after the annulment, especially your ascendancy as Senate President, taking the office of your fellow Benue brother, Iyorchia Ayu, was misconstrued in some quarters as an endorsement of the annulment or that you were going to shift ground?
When June 12 election was annulled, there were divisions – those people who were against the annulment of June 12 elections and those people mainly in the military who made the annulment possible. Politicians proper were not happy with the annulment of the June 12 election. I was elected Senate President for a few weeks and the military came again, and when the process of putting Abiola in office failed, some of us disagreed, insisting that the government of Abacha should have put Abiola who won the election that was deemed to be free and fair into office.
When he failed to put him in office, I reconvened the Senate and appealed to Abacha to hand over to Abiola as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria but what did we get? We were put in detention and we were there with Bola Tinubu, Senator Okorafor, Senator Abu Ibrahim and many others. We were put in prison for some time until Abacha died and this democracy that we are now in was put in place. Not all politicians agreed with the annulment of the June 12 election won by Abiola.

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AGIP politicians at work.

I won't be voting Jonathan if I'm in Nigeria during the election!! He lacks a lot of leadership features. He seem like a person that will succumb to anyone threatening his position!! This is a demo of what Jonathan will do when he gets there. Senators and reps are still getting 85% more than they deserve!!!,  I don't think Jonathan is the man for Nigeria.


Referendum should be the first thing any good leader will think of first!!. Every tribe except Beaf's tribe should be allowed to have their own province and grow. Control their own people by their own people.

9jaganja:

I won't be voting Jonathan if I'm in Nigeria during the election!! He lacks a lot of leadership features. He seem like a person that will succumb to anyone threatening his position!! This is a demo of what Jonathan will do when he gets there. Senators and reps are still getting 85% more than they deserve!!!, I don't think Jonathan is the man for Nigeria.

Referendum should be the first thing any good leader will think of first!!. Every tribe except Beaf's tribe should be allowed to have their own province and grow. Control their own people by their own people.

The word "tribe" is derogatory. We need to learn to use positive words like "ethnicity" or "nationality" and similar. Tribe was first used to refer to groups of monkeys and extended to non-whites by supremacists and racists, that is why white people do not have tribes. Thank you.

. . . End of educational rant.

@topic
The new alliance between Middle Belt, North East and South is a totally fresh and welcome re-allignment in Nigerian politics. I believe we are witnessing the early birth pangs of a new Nigeria. What a coincidence that it is coming in the year of our Golden Jubilee!

9jaganja:

I won't be voting Jonathan if I'm in Nigeria during the election!! He lacks a lot of leadership features. He seem like a person that will succumb to anyone threatening his position!! This is a demo of what Jonathan will do when he gets there. Senators and reps are still getting 85% more than they deserve!!!,  I don't think Jonathan is the man for Nigeria.


Referendum should be the first thing any good leader will think of first!!. Every tribe except Beaf's tribe should be allowed to have their own province and grow. Control their own people by their own people.

The way I have read this post, it would seem that the minorities in Nigeria would wish to join forces in order to become major stakeholders in this country and challenge, the Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa-Fulani. This is very interesting.

Also, I do not support Goodluck Jonathan either. I'll rather support Pat Utomi or if Fashola was running I would support him as well. He lacks the leadership quality and he is from PDP and nothing good comes from that.

Beaf:

The word "tribe" is derogatory. We need to learn to use positive words like "ethnicity" or "nationality" and similar. Tribe was first used to refer to groups of monkeys and extended to non-whites by supremacists and racists, that is why white people do not have tribes. Thank you.

. . . End of educational rant.

@topic
The new alliance between Middle Belt, North East and South is a totally fresh and welcome re-allignment in Nigerian politics. I believe we are witnessing the early birth pangs of a new Nigeria. What a coincidence that it is coming in the year of our Golden Jubilee!

phuck that. I'll rather come from a monkey than come from Europe any day. If you know their history, you won't be mad they are racist or even attempt to correct their racist slangs. You ain't educating no one but yourself. White folks can say all they want as long as you speak their language, use their words too. If I'm speaking Yoruba and using a language white meant for insults to describe a people, it will be different. Europeans choose to call people not like them a different name so that is racist? More like you haven't sort out your insecurity issues. Must they call you what they call themselves? Or must they use the same language to describe everyone? NO you ain't no scholar, you are a slowpoke and I'm sorry for trying to contribute to your thread. And Europeans use tribe to describe themselves sometimes too so you really are foolish.

A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.

Many anthropologists use the term to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups (see clan and kinship).

Some theorists hold that tribes represent a stage in social evolution intermediate between bands and states. Other theorists argue that tribes developed after, and must be understood in terms of their relationship to, states. Some criticize its connotations as a way of attaching "backwardness" and the racist notion of primitive since the term "tribe" is largely used to describe non-White peoples

Of all the nice definitions given to Tribe the one that suits your emotion is the one you choose to bring up? You didn't have something to say relating to my post. You are nuts dude!! I swear please don't quote me ever again and I won't be present on any of your threads. It seems you like attaching ignorance to others to cover up your own ignorance (talk of the save trying talking like his master). I used tribe and ain't nothing wrong with that. If Europeans attach backwardness to others, that's their own problem. You have derailed your own thread by bye!!

Igbo = Ethnic Group

Ikwerre, Aro, Ngwa, Mbaise, Anioma, Izzi, Ezza, Mgbo = Igbo tribes

I do not consider the Igbo a tribe. Igbo as an ethnic group has 3 times as more people as the Scottish ethnic group, yet some people will erroneously call us a tribe! My particular subgroup the Aro are a tribe, but my ethnicity is Igbo.

This is a very interesting comment from a Middle Belter on the Vanguard website;

Tonyfrankly says:
August 8, 2010 at 8:48 am

Sen Ebute is completely right ih his submissions especially on why Jonathan should run and the issue of Middle Belt alliance
With the South. The M-Belt’s past support for the North since independence is the major reason for the underdevelopment of the area politically and infrastructure wise. We are counted as part of North only to exploit us in time of elections only to dump us after and label us minorities. Coming from Kogi State, I have not seen anything that can justify our identification as northerners. The only political option left to us now is to go into very strong alliance with our southern neighbours to help free us from the stranglehold of the Northern cabal that has impeded our progress and development. Let the Middle Belt exist on their own as a strong political zone and be in a right position to bargain for power, it is only that way we can make progress and by playing Boy Boy to the Northern power-brokers. A summit of Middle Beltans has become innevitable to take a stand on this. Senator, thanks for being frank/truthful enough.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/08/08/jonathans-purported-aspiration-why-the-middle-belt-is-now-for-south-south-by-ameh-ebute/

Where in Gods name is Edoyad? That dude used to be NL's most outspoken Middle Belter.

an ethnic group??maybe not, [img]http://s07.flagcounter.com/count/DymW/bg=ffffff/txt=ffffff/border=ffffff/columns=1/maxflags=1/viewers=3/labels=0/[/img]

Yea. Middlebelt don de shine him eyes well well. Dem no de tell person say jungle don mature .

This should have been before now, our leaders are only thinking of the hand-me-downs they get from their Cattle-fulani slave masters.