₦airaland Forum

Obi: APGA targets take-over of S-East states
National News Feb 9, 2010

By Vincent Ujumadu

AWKA—NATIONAL chairman of All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, still basking in the euphoria of the victory of his party in last Saturday’s governorship election in Anambra State, has said that

APGA’s next target is to take over other South East States.

Three states in the zone namely, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo are under the control of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, while Abia is being controlled by the Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA.

Umeh, who spoke at his Aguluzigbo, Anaocha Local Government Area country home, said that with the renewed mandate for Governor Obi, APGA has consolidated its hold on Anambra State, adding that the next target was to replicate the feat achieved in Anambra State in Imo, Abia, Enugu, and Ebonyi States.

“What we have achieved in Anambra State, we will replicate in other South East States, God being our helper.

We are going to make the other states in the South East the strong hold of APGA. Anambra is already

strengthened with Mr. Peter Obi’s re-election to serve as Governor for the next four years. The state is now strong and consolidated for APGA.

“From Anambra State, we can now go round to other South East States to extend the message of APGA to other brothers and sisters in the states and I am sure our people will respond positively. If you look at the happiness exuded by the people of the state over the victory of APGA, you will be grateful to God that what we did together has yielded fruits,” he said.


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[quote author=na.com2 link=topic=394250.msg5468420#msg5468420 date=1265577285]1. Turai Yar'Adua
2. Ojo Maduekwe
3. Ibrahim Babangida
4. Abubakar Atiku
5. James Ibori

[/quote]The list is still missing Ahmed Yerima and Michael Aondoakaa

Please find attached a picture of Michael and his parents

ishmael:
Why were they hausas in 1966?, killing igbos everywhere from kano down to benue state.

Just the same way ijaw, ikwerre, ibibio, efik and delta igbo people have stopped being igbo abi?

Middle belt people shey ?

ezeagu:
Uh. . . . .

https://www.luisprada.com/Protected/IMAGES/Jesus3.jpg

Exactly

Not. . .

Getting to the bottom of these crises is of utmost importance. Any one found to be behind whether christian or muslim; tiv or hausa, must be brought to book to serve as a deterrent to others.
After the instigators of these violence have caused their damage they and their children globetrot round the world from newyork to london, acquiring properties with the blood of the innocent in their bank accounts. When international arrest warrants are issued we'll see how they will continue in this maleficence of theirs.

But the fact of the matter is billions are still expended annually on this exercise in Nigeria.
What i'd like to know is if the Finance ministry knows how much all tiers of govt spend on this exercise. Which states spend the most on sending pilgrims vis a vis their revenue base ?

Hmm ! This is the 2nd time the combination of Ruma, Kurfi and Abaji are being mentioned. What am i missing ? Aondoakaa is the only one i see being fo.olish on TV

Exactly, voodoo festivals take place in Brazil, Togo and the Carribeans but nobody talks of how we'll sponsor Nigerians who are believers in such modes of worship to those places. Why carry resources we don't even have in the first place to pay for some one's religious tourism ? Mean while the economies we pay to send these people to are richer than ours.
I'd really like to know how much is spent on sponsoring pilgrimages annually.

Why should she resign before completing her mission ? Everybody knows the best way to eight the enemy is from within. If she resigns she becomes an outsider and her actions less damaging on the cabal.

Dora them no fit kill you, like they say here, "actor no dey die"

Please no body should ever equate Dora to those maleficent individuals. Dora proved herself as a patriot when she ensured that we could walk into any pharmacy and buy genuine drugs(i personally know what i went through searching for genuine diabenese for someone). It so happens that even super heroes could lose focus occasionally but the beauty of it is when they're able to realise their error and come back stronger to defeat goblins.

@sapele guy spot on. Nigeria is a secular state with even the Niger Delta clamouring for more funds. Why take those funds and dash to foreigners in the name of going to see buildings in other people's land ?
How much is really expended annually on pilgrimage ? I'd really like to know

New poster, try harder next time. You almost sounded convincing sha.

The federal govt. has come out to say it cannot continue to spend money on subsidy because it is eating deep into revenue and costing the nation too much. Also we were told that salaries of some top govt functionaries would be slashed which is commendable.
Now, if the govt truly wants to be austere in these hard times, why do they spend billions on pilgrimage for believers to go to their holy land ? Aren't pilgrims and tourists supposed to source for their own funds if they desire to travel ? How much do the different tiers of govt even spend on pilgrimages in the first place ?
Fellow Nigerians, couldn't these funds from crude oil sale be put to better use here in Nigeria to make our lives better ?

Mr Ndu-chuks, why should hausa man be hesitant of revealing where he is from ? All Nigerians are accepted in every part of the country, i don't know why it is on NL you choose to hide the fact that you're either from, zamfara, sokoto, kano etc ?

Ndu-chuks tell us where you're really from, i promise not to ever insult you on NL again if you tell us where you're from so we can start these developmental talks you yearn for.

@dapobear and onlytruth, that is the weapon that has been used to keep opposition in check, "in fighting" and "internal squabbles". And about ndu-chuks, there are many of his almajiri friends on NL who register names giving the impression they're from other places. Occasionallly they start all these tribal bashing threads you see on NL between people of other ethnic groups. So next time someone with a username like -adebowale07- starts a thread like "who do ibos like to sell fake drugs?" or one obichike starts a thread, "why do Yoruba(sic) female politicians like to steal ?", don't easily fall for it. Check to see how many posts the user name has made.

Mr nduchuks hahaha , please tell us who is responsible for almajiris on our streets ? I can't believe a sane human being just spoke !

Knowall that's really rich material you posted. Unfortunately real Tivs are a wonderful but people like Aondoaka(don't really know bout waziri) have a way of killing a people integrity. I don't know if He's the one deputising for Umaru in bed that's why He's so vehement in his defence ?
Does Turai, mother who traded her daughters off to gov'nors qualify as a politician ?

Good lord ! Where did you get that quote from @dapobear ?

Are you sure you bought real petrol or some mixture ?

Do you blame these boys ? Why have we had fuel scarcity for over three months if some people are not benefitting from the pain of Nigerians ?

Dora was deceived into working as cabal's mouth-piece, we all thought she was being nominated for a position in the health ministry.
Michael Aondakaa and Joe Madukwe did far more in trying to con us than Dora did, anyways she has redeemed herself.

Hands down it's the Judas called Aondakaa, all that's left is to hang himself.

Worshipping an Iranian of Persian descent ! Ignorant almajiri people will worship every thing from the sub continent of arabia, wasted existence.

Ndu_chuks, keep foo.ling yourself. You're not igbo, you're nothing but an almajiri who has registered with an igbo name. So the next time you log in with one of your identities to come here to steal and destroy from progressive people, know that edoyad will be waiting for your almajiri brain here.

Knowall, as long as you're Nigerian, you're Nigerian if you know what i mean. The fact of the matter is a charlatan opened this thread with the intention of deceiving readers as to who the credit of an Osun woman being a senator from adamawa lay with. I'm waiting !

I ask again, who is Folashade Jackson Bent representing in the Nigerian senate ?

Nigeria Central
The Middle Belt, Glue Of The Nation

By

Chimaroke Nnamani
Governor of Enugu State
ebeano@ebeano.org



2005 edition of the public lecture series of the
Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Plateau State Council, in conjunction with
Africa Republic Foundation (ARF); Hill Station Hotel, Jos, Nigeria

Tuesday, August 16, 2005



,  cheating, in history, consists in speaking
for one's self, while feigning to speak of others,

,  Alan Browning
(in Nazi Hate Mongering, 1944)




. . . . To the effect of that background, I had then viewed the issues of Middle Belt Nigeria ,  with a kind of trepidation. Certainly, not that if a departure from the aimed definition in terms of geography, politics and class occurs, a kind of swift response for conceptualization would follow on the basis of the cacophony already strewn on the plain.

[size=14pt]By the way, if we talk of a Middle Belt, we must take into account such definitional preferences of the promoters as well as the historical data made available by researchers. Historically, it is not so easy to fit the entire Middle Belt into any zone of original antecedent. According to legends of legend and legends of origin, what we have on the ground cannot present a definitive single antecedent or even a composite background. Yet, even against that background, the Langtang, Birom, Tiv, Chawai, Jaba, Jukun, among the other tens of such ethnic groups, have one thing in common. They have lived in the Niger-Benue Confluence over some millennia. And they have, together, claimed the Nok culture, reportedly originating from Nok Village in Jaba Local Government Area, Kaduna State[/size].

Besides the varied origins as claimed in the cases of peoples of the Nok Culture, the Middle Belt areas or the Niger-Benue Confluence region, were to gravitate to such western economic endeavours, of which the Tin Mining enterprises in Jos, our present host city, drew into it many of the people who were to realize their common heritage and political destiny. Such virtually natural concentric development, expanding in the sucking of peoples from deep Southern areas as well as far-flung North actually presented the zone as the glue that draws.


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You are invited to holiday  


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Hear from the people that grouped us.

Hundreds of people are reported to have been killed in central Nigeria after Christians and Muslims clashed over the result of a local election.

A Muslim charity in the town of Jos says it collected more than 300 bodies, and fatalities are also expected among Christians.

There is no official confirmation yet, and figures are notoriously unreliable in Nigeria, says the BBC's Alex Last.
. . . . . . . . . .


Troubled past

In 2001, more than 1,000 people died in religious clashes in the city, situated in Nigeria's fertile "middle belt" that separates the Muslim north from the predominantly Christian south.

Nigeria map

And in 2004, a state of emergency was declared in Plateau state after more than 200 Muslims were killed in the town of Yelwa in attacks by Christian militia.

Correspondents say communal violence in Nigeria is complex, but it often boils down to competition for resources such as land between those that see themselves as indigenous versus the more recent settlers.

In Plateau, Christians are regarded as being indigenous and Hausa-speaking Muslims the settlers.


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The Middle Belt: History and politics
By Haruna Izah

Where is the middle Belt? Those who support this idea or concept define it to include eight states of the federation, namely Adamawa, Taraba, Niger, Kogi, Plateau, Nasarawa, Benue, Kwara and the Federal Capital Territory. Southern Kaduna, Brono and Gombe are also regarded as part of it. In trying to re-assert itself as an independent entity, the place has for long become an alluring bride for many suitors, conscious of the strategic part it plays in deciding the outcome of an election.

Straddling the middle of Nigeria, the middle Belt is a relatively big complex multi-ethnic, multi-religious geographical area, where unlike the Hausa-Fulani and the Kanuris of the far north, is populated largely by minority ethnic groups. Its politics is no complex, swinging between an uneasy attachment to the far north and sometimes an open or cautious solidarity and alliance with southern-based parties. No wonder it has since the pre-independence days been a fertile fishing water pond for the big three ethnic groups in the country in their quest for political dominance.

The middle belt however is much more than an attractive bride waiting to be plucked by the lucky suitor. It has other attributes. Chief Solomon Daushep Lar, a prominent advocate of this cause thinks he knows the true significance of the area in Nigeria. A middle Belt conference he convened in August 1998, the first civilian governor of the old Plateau state and one-time National chairman of thePpeoples Democratic Party (PDP) stated that "because the Middle Belt is located in central Nigeria, which comprise the people of southern and northern Nigeria, it is always in the best position to interpret the north to the south and the south to the north. Not only do we serve as the glue for the country, our privileged location enables us to best measure the temperature of the nation. This role places enormous responsibility on our shoulders, and also requires that both the north and the south must listen carefully to us anytime we speak on contentious issues".

This is chief Lar's understanding and the place of the middle Belt in the corporate entity called Nigeria. Indeed even before the emergences of the Lars on the political scene, the area had been under going some kind of rethinking on its place in Nigeria and its politics. The birth of the United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) in the late 1940's was the culmination of such rethinking and the search by the area for relevance in national politics. The founding fathers of the UMBC such as the late Rwang Pam, Yonah Asadugu, Bello Jacob Ijumu, Pastor David Lot, among many others invested enormous amount of their time and resources to see to the realization of the goals of the area.

How did the United Middle Belt Congress fare in meeting the objectives of the area as set out by the founding fathers? In electoral term, the UMBC did very well. According to Jonah Asadugu in an interview he granted to a magazine called "Northern Nigeria in perspective"(NNIP) in February, 1992, the party won 35 out of the $45 seats allocated to the area during the 1954 federal and regional elections. It was however not so lucky with other goals, such that the demand for a Middle Belt region as the willink commission of Inquiry set up by the colonial government in the fifties to look into grievances of minority groups in the country rejected the request. British colonialists and powerful conservative northern interests may have been responsible for the rejection , though it appeared the idea never disappeared from the minds of some here.

It is understood by some people that part of the history of the middle Belt is the history of control and domination by its big neighbours. Some were able to resist the domination, some did not, thus losing their independence and the ability to chart a different course of existence. The voting pattern here is therefore usually informed by how the political parties relate to such history. This may explain why the United Middle Congress was able to sweep the polls in a large part of the area in the pre-and may also be post -independent periods. It may also be the likely reason why south-based parties like the NCNC and the Action Group were able to establish or form good working alliances with the UMBC. On the other hand, the failure of the defunct Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) to make significant inroads here may be due to the fact that the people here may have perceived it as the political organ used to dominate and marginalise them.

The second republic displayed a mixed grill of the voting patterns reinforcing the issue of the diversity of the area.

Perception of the past did count, but not everywhere. Old Plateau state, perhaps the strongest and most steadfast defender of the middle Belt identity went to zik's led Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP). It was a clear vote against the more conservative far north-led National Party of Nigeria (NPN). Former Gongola state, now made up of Adamawa and Taraba was swept by the Great Nigeria peoples Party (GNPP), a party that had some roots in the old Borno Youth Movement (BYM), an ally of the United Middle Belt Congress. Benue state, a hot-bed of minority revolt and identity, however to the surprise of many, laid out the welcoming mat for the conservative NPN.

Kwara and Niger states took the same route as Benue. In the second term in 1983, only chief Solomon Lar's Plateau, then made up of the present Plateau and Nasarawa states held its ground against the mighty onslaught of the NPN. Lar won his re-election on the same NPP platform. Kwara state exchanged suitors, ditching the NPN and tying the nuptial knots with chief Awolowo's Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN).

The NPN also retained Benue and Niger states, in addition to adding Gongola.

During the short-lived third republic, the social Democratic Party (SDP), which was regarded as the party closer to the area's interest found formidable challenge from the more conservative National Republic convention (NRC). In the end the two parties divided the area almost equally during the governorship elections. Plateau, Benue, Kwara and Taraba went to the SDP, while the NRC took Niger, Kogi and Adamawa states.

During the presidential elections however the SDP polled substantially more votes than the NRC. As a matter of fact the SDP presidential candidate, chief M.K.O Abiola got the second highest block votes in the whole country from the area. Only the south west gave Abiola more votes.

Today in the present political dispensation, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is in control of all the eight states here. Does this mean the PDP is closer to the aspirations of the area than the rival All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP)? Hard to say, since in today's Nigerian politics, it is very difficult to pinpoint exactly what the parties stand for or where they originated from. However Middle Belters may have been looking for a bigger tent, in order to enjoy a bigger slice of the federal largess and found in the big PDP the perfect tent. Having watched from the sidelines during the NPC and NPN days, eras that consigned then to the political wilderness with all the attendant material drought, for once going mainstream with the PDP was a chance the area did not want to miss.

There are of course people who do not believe in the middle Belt even as a concept, let alone a reality. Those who hold such a view believe that the north is one, united indivisible entity, stretching from Kwara to Katsina and Sokoto to borno. It has no separate part, nor would any part be allowed to go its separate way. Not infrequently agitators, for a separate Middle Belt area out of the north are regarded or described as either few ethnic or religious sentimentalists, who out of pure mischief want to break up the north on the lame excuse that they are being unfairly treated to achieve their separalist goal or stooges of a south bent on slicing off a large chunck of the electoral votes of the north so as to cripple the region politically. Perhaps more than anyone, the Sardauna of Sokoto and the NPC made sure a middle Belt region did not materialize. Today his main followers are still keeping the flames of a united north and the anti-middle Belt stance alive.

Do those who deny the existence of a middle Belt have a point? Yes, they do to the extent that while there was an agitation for the region, the effort was never successful. So legally speaking, there was never a middle Belt region, if the argument is about what was in existence rather than what the people wanted but failed to get . The anti-middle group may have another point if those promoting the cause of a separate identity of area give the impression that the issue is more about religion than geographcal, historical circumstances and genuine minorities fears. Nothing gives those who do not like the idea of a middle Belt better amunition than the impression that it is about religious exclusivity for one religious group. And yet religion, in this case, Christianity, can not be promoted as the binding factor since to do so would exclude Moslems who however happen to form a significant percentage of the population. Christians may be in the majority, but and a quest for this identity has to have the ability of carrying along everyone, irrespective of faith or ethnicity.

However geography and history are more plausible factors the agitators of middle Belt cause can advance? Geographically, the area straddle the middle of the country, giving some of the people here an outlook and orientation that some places are quite different and distinct from the upper north. A large number of the ethnic groups here also share a common history of occupation and domination by the bigger groups in the far north. Common and shared historical experience has become for such groups a rallying factor for identity and unity. The fact that most of the groups are minorities in the midst of the dominant Hausa-Fulani and Kanuris has to some extent helped to instill a sense of solidarity to enhance their ability to ward-off domination, real or imagined.

All these are factors behind which a case for the middle Belt can be built. They are issues that cut across the whole area and not limited to a part of it or some group. On the other hand while some may feel religion is not insignificant, the fact still remains that its elevation will divide rather than unite the area, an outcome those who truly desire a united middle Belt cannot hope for.

So then, do the two sides have valid cases? It may seem so. Those who reject or do not believe in the middle Belt may have legality on their side. On the other hand, geography and history seem to support the cause of the advocates of the middle Belt. In the final analysis though, it may be history, perception, a sense of identity among the people and the nature of the state that will define the reality of the middle Belt rather than what the political elite from both the anti and pro group say, do or want.


Monday, November 29, 2004

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@deluxe, my bad for not being specific. I'm refering to hon. Jonathan Tsaku, leader of Middle belt youth group that made the call. He should mobilise and show support not just on newspaper pages.