₦airaland Forum

macof: Can anyone list all the ethnic groups in the middle belt. I am trying to compile a list.
Btw aren't Igede people more or less Idoma, I mean being that in language classification igede is Idomoid.

I feel it's pointless taking them as separate ethnic groups. middle belt should come together and organize their tribes into appropriate groups

An exhaustive list of Middlebelt tribes will just be very difficult to compile....but i think some googling on it will help u.
in my state Plateau alone we have not less than 50 distinct ethnic groups....not to talk of places like Southern Kaduna with about 55, Taraba with about 64, Nassarawa with about 30 e.t.c....it will really take much time to do that..
But let me at least give u some from my own Plateau state which am very conversent with to help u in your compilation. In plateau we have....

Tarok
Mwaghavul
Goemai
Ngas
Berom
Pyem
Afizere
Ron-Kulere
Kofyar (Kwagallak, Myernyang, Jipal and Doemak)
Mupun
Miship
Kadung
Anaguta
Rukuba
Irigwe
Mushere
Kadung
Mundat
Tal
Bogghom
Jhar
Lemoro
Kurama
Fyer
Aten
Yuom
Jukun Kona
Yangkam
Tambes
Chokobo
Anafejanji
Buji
Duguza
Jere
Pyapung

i think this is where i can stop....there are others

Very nice thread here but however d truth remains dat d outcome of this war will largely depend on the route with which d Hausa Fulani will want to use in invading because these ppl 4sure are clearly aggressors and will always be d ones to start whateva conflict.
If they take d Benue-plateau-Taraba axis, they will meet a very strong resistance here because of the very resistive nature of the ppl of this axis to Hausa Fulani domination and influence. But the Niger-kwara-kogi axis will be easier for these Hausa fulanis invaders axis of the less resisting attitude of these ppl 2dem frm d beginning.
If the Hausa Fulani invaders take d kwara-Niger-kogi axis then surely igbo land/south south or Yoruba land will surely b d next target.

drealzum: Wonderful! Not all middle beltans speak hausa. Uptil this day,my grand ma does not know what is zo(come) in hausa. The only language she speaks and undastand is ngas.

Yes u are r right my broda....not all middlebelters speak hausa. just dat many do.
only those in Benue, kogi, kwara and southern parts of Niger do not speak hausa in their majority. But d majority of those in plateau, Nasarawa, southern kaduna, Taraba do speak hausa (but still not entirely all of them).

Danrizzle: A seemingly nice thread. #av always wondered what southern kadunas were. Carry on @op

Southern Kadunas are a collection of dozens of minority ethnic groups with very diverse cultures and languages! And they constitute roughly half the population of Kaduna state and they are mostly christians!
The only thing is that they all speak Hausa as a fluent second languages just as many other middlebelters do and this has overtime also affected their own native dialects.

U see my problem with Mr Hughwilliams, I dont think u are from the north or middlebelt....u are probably a southner who hav spent few years in this zone!
I agree that there are more muslims in Bosso, chanchaga, Suleja....but the thing is that many of these muslims are not Gwaris! They are either Hausa fulanis or nupes. But many of dem will tell u dat they r indigenes there whereas they are not! Just like d present govnor whom his grandfather migrated frm Sokoto down to Minna and now he claims Minna which is Gwari land as his hometown. D same tin with IBB and Abdulsalami who are not Gwari by tribe but claim they are from Minna.
The biggest cities in Niger state like minna, suleja e.t.c are in Niger east, and as a result, this attracts the population of settlers in the state, and also other indigenes of the state who are mostly muslims move to settle in these towns. And this is how most towns in this zone ended up being dominantly muslims, otherwise pls go through all the rural areas of every LGA of this zone and u willl see that christians are the majority in 80% of them. Infact there are some interior villages u will enter in some LGAs like Tafa, Munya and Rafi that u will not find a single mosque! But I dare u that there is no place u will not find a church in dat whole zone!
Most of u because u visit only the towns in these places, u just conclude that the place is dominantly muslim without going through the rural areas.
Like I said b4 evn if u tell me dat Niger east district is dominantly muslim by population of both indigenes and settlers I will not easily still agree, coz I think it would be a 50/50. But if it is based on indigeneship/origin, no way 4d muslims 2eva b more than d christians.
Suleja town by d way is evn a hausa dominated town (enclave) in Gwari land. Go into d rural areas of suleja, there will u find d true gwari indigenes.

HughWilliams: Man, you don't know Gwari land more than I do, I spent 5yrs in Niger state as a student. And I do visit d local government in Suleja, shiroro, Chanchaga and Bosso. I am not sentimental and stop being naive. Muslims are always more where the governor happens to be governor. Moreover, the current governor and his deputy are both muslims!! Don't forget the senator representing them since 1999 have always been muslims..

The fact that d present governor and his deputy are muslims doesnt mean anything, it is just an attempt to create a balance. When Kure a nupe man was the governor from 1999 to 2007, his deputy was Shem Zagbayi Nuhu a christian frm Niger east (gwari land) because Nupe and Gwari are d 2 major tribes in d state, so as long as d governor was from Nupe (Niger south) , the deputy had to be from Gwari (Niger east).
And nupe Muslims being the unfanatic Muslims that they are unlike hausa fulani, Kure knew it would be beta if he had a christian deputy considering the large minority population of christians in d state.
D reason why it later became muslim govnor/ muslim deputy frm 2007 till now was because Babangida Aliyu (a hausa settler in minna who claims minna which is in Niger east as his hometown), he took the gwari (niger east) slot, and surely the deputy governor who ought 2b a christian cannot still come from the same zone. Hence d picking of Ibeto (a nupe man from Niger south).......The christians in Niger south as well as Niger north are quite very few unlike Niger east and hence u hardly find succesful political aspirants. And dis is partly the reason d deputy govnor was also a muslim.
Also Babangida Aliyu as a typical Hausa man that he is will always act with religious fanaticism as his ppl are known for dat was why he still went ahead to pick a muslim deputy as his running mate. Unlike Kure (a nupe man) who searched for and picked a christian running mate.

HughWilliams: Wish both of them good luck. Dr. Shem would have been the governor now after serving as deputy governor for 8years (1999-2007) but was denied the ticket because of his religion-christianity and he still refuse to decamp. I know Dr.Shem personally as very humble and modest as he is a choir member in our church back then in Minna even when he was the deputy governor. Umaru too, a fellow christian is a grassroot politician and love by his people!! That is why I love the Gwari people, just like the yorubas, religion is not a factor when presenting candidates for election. Imagine them present two Christians for senator in an area where almost 65% of the senatorial district populations are muslims..
Both of them are good and may the people's will prevail.

Stop telling lies Mr......Christians are d majority in Gwari land and Niger east as a whole.
Gwaris, d majority tribe of Niger east are 60% christians......only that many hausa fulani and nupe muslims came from other places to Minna and suleja and now many of them are claiming indigeneship. This is what has now made it look like muslims are more in the zone, but by general population of d zone, its still a 50/50 because there r many igbo christians who also came to settle in the zone.
Muslims cannot be more in Gwari land. It is a very big lie!!

fkaz: Benue, Plateau, Kogi Niger state, are tired of PDP

Time up for PDP

Speak 4 urself Mr.....I am from the middlebelt and I promise u dat Niger state is d only part of the middlebelt where APC can have its way, because most Niger state indigenes are hausa fulani slaves conquered by Danfodio.
APC a k a Hausa-yoruba islamic party can neva have its way in neither Kogi nor Plateau, Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba ant Adamawa.

caseless: no b me say bauchi and borno(2 northeastern states), somebody quoted wikipedia; and even in d report they didn't say all the states , but part of them. Even thou it was wrong, they did name the main states in d middlebelt.
Once again...@meforyou!

The middlebelt is not defined as d same tin with North central.....North central is just d political division were majority of middlebelters are found.

The correct definition of middlebelt is 'all d minority groups about central Nigeria' and this therefore includes d minority groups of Southern Kaduna, Taraba, Adamawa, South Bauchi and South Gombe together with the whole North central (xcept for Yorubas of kwara and kogi).

The definition of d middlebelt in d wider sense exceeds north central to all d areas of minority groups in d old northern region.

deeobserver209: Middle Belt got some of the best dancers in Nigeria.

U can say that again.

Eggon girls from Nasarawa state

The traditional ruler of the Largest city of the middlebelt- THE GBON GWOM JOS. - HRH Da Jacob Buba Gyang.

A proud Idoma woman from Benue.

Ngas girls from Pankshin, Plateau state in traditional attire

Egbirra man and woman in traditional attire, Kogi state.

Dancers from Nasarawa state

tobtap: what about the yorubas in kwara and kogi states...just saying....good thread

Yorubas in Kwara and Kogi are politically part of the Middlebelt because they found themselves in the north central, but culturally and by history, the yorubas in kwara and Kogi are not part of the Middlebelt.
The Middlebelt is just for central/northern minority groups.

Nupe women from Bida, Niger state.

Ham Dodo dance from Jaba, Southern Kaduna

Igede girls from Benue in their traditional attire

I begin from the largest tribe of the Middlebelt who are the Tivs.
These are the SWANGE DANCERS. one of the best group of dancers in Nigeria!!

The middlebelt people of Nigeria are the most ethnically diverse people and the region is the most diverse. And as they say, beauty comes with diversity. Only that unfortunately most times the unique identity of middlebelt people is usally supressed by hausa fulani since they are sometimes grouped as Northernerns with the wrong name 'North central'.

But this thread here is a free one for all middlebelt ppl (northern minorities) to show case their beautiful culture to the world.
So whether u are Igala or Ebira from Kogi, Berom or Ngas from Plateau, Jukun or Mumuye from Taraba, Tiv or Idoma from Benue, Nupe or Gbagyi from Niger state, Atyap or Bajju from southern Kaduna, Eggon or Alago from Nasarawa e.t.c, here is the place to display your culture....as long as u are not Hausa fulani or kanuri from the Core north....
So let's go!!!