The Middle Belt region has been the theatre of ceaseless violent attacks by marauding herdsmen in recent years. The zone recently picked itself up politically and demanded a shot at the 2019 presidential race. A rally to drum up support for the ambition was held last week in Makurdi, the Benue State capital. ADEMOLA ADEGBITE monitored the rally, reports.
The race to the 2019 presidential election has started gathering momentum as elders, leaders and various groups across the 15 states from the Middle Belt region converged on Makurdi, the Benue State capital, to strategize towards ensuring that one of their own emerges victorious during the coming election.
Among the prominent Nigerians who participated in the mega rally tagged ‘Middle Belt Conference: Restructuring Nigeria and Reawakening, The Position of the Middle Belt,’ were Commodore Dan Suleiman; General Theophilus Danjuma; the national president of the forum, Dr Bitrus Pogu; Mrs. Sarah Dokotori; Professor Alloy Ihua; Chief Benjamin Dikki; former National Deputy Women Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mrs. Torkwase Ajoh; as well as governors of Benue and Taraba states, Samuel Ortom and Darius Ishyaku, respectively among numerous others.
However, leaders of the visiting delegation from South-West, South-East and South-South who were expected at the rally could not make it due to flight hitches. The development was later to degenerate to a sort of national embarrassment as it came to the open that the Southern leaders were allegedly denied landing permit by the Federal Government at the airport. The leaders were Chief Ayo Adebanjo of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere; leader of the pan-Igbo group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nwodo (Jnr) as well a team of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) headed by Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga (rtd).
Banners of different presidential hopeful including that of Mr Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN); Professor Jerry Gana of the Social Democratic Party (SDP); former deputy governor of Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), Dr Obadiah Mailafia and Professor Iyorwuese Hagher also of the SDP were held aloft by myriads of supporters and interests who flooded the venue of the rally.
All the speakers at the rally were clear that they would no longer continue to support a leadership that gives tacit support to killings, hence the need to search for more qualified, vibrant, energetic, young candidate of substance among the numerous the region had produced.
While reading the adoption of ‘Makurdi Declaration 2018,’ the legal adviser of the Middle Belt forum, Mark Jacob, said the enemy of the people of the region would not be able to stop them from coming together. He stated that the region rejected the current structure of the Nigerian federation as constituted. This structure, according to him, has worked great injustice to the people of the Middle Belt, and therefore, “we stand and call for the restructuring of Nigeria.”
In his message, the Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, said currently, there is increasing agitation for restructuring and is being recommended as the recipe for peace in Nigeria.
According to him, “Initially the idea of ranching was resisted as some people misunderstood my patriotic intention. For example, when the law was passed, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore threatened and vowed to mobilise Fulanis in all of West Africa to come over to Benue. They also said that they were not merely interested in grass, but that the Benue valley belongs to them as they were the first settlers.
“The nexus between violence, instability and poverty has long been established. With sustained violence in the Middle Belt and other parts of the country, thousands of people have been killed, properties destroyed and over 180, 000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are in camps and over 500, 000 are with relatives and in uncompleted buildings in Benue State. We must find ways of addressing this humanitarian crisis and return these people to their homes.”
In his goodwill message, the chairman of the elders’ forum of the organisation, Air Commodore Dan Suleiman (rtd) said the struggle is for the emancipation of the region, reminding the gathering that as he triumphed in the days of late General Sani Abacha, so shall the Middle belt.
In his welcome address, the national president of the forum, Dr Bitrus Pogu, said Nigeria was entering into a momentum in history, as the region had come under series of barbaric attacks by some strange forces.
Dr Pogu said the international community was expressing concern for the first time on the ongoing atrocities that trailed the invasions of the communities, as Amnesty International, the global human rights book and the United Nations have all in one way or the other raised serious concerns.
The president said the UN have decried the concerns by the constituted authorities of the people that are consistently killed and hounded on all sides, saying government’s body language or inaction seems to suggest complicity at every instance.
In their separate speeches, presidential aspirants from the region, Mr. Olawepo-Hashim, Professor Gana, Dr Mailafia and Professor Hagher promised to work together to achieve the set goal.
Olawepo-Hashim, an aspirant under the platform of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) promised to put a halt to the incessant killing bedevilling major parts of the country when elected to govern Nigeria come 2019.
He said his mission was to rescue Nigerians from abject poverty, create jobs for the teeming youths and ensure availability of social amenities which will have direct benefit to the entire populace. He therefore assured Nigerians that his government would fix the nation’s economy, create enabling environment for business to flourish and create jobs for the benefit of all and sundry.
Also speaking, Professor Iyorwuese Hagher said many Nigerians from the region are eminently qualified to become the next president of Nigeria.
According to him, “we have very highly qualified leaders in this region who can become president of this nation. If I become the president of this country, there will be peace, equity, quality, progress and Nigeria will be greater.”
In his own speech, the former deputy governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), who is also another aspirant, Dr Obadiah Mailafia, said the race was not a do-or-die affair; and that whoever emerges among the contestants would be supported during the forthcoming presidential election in 2019.
Presidential hopeful under the platform of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has promised to put a halt to the incessant killing bedeviling major parts of the country when elected to govern Nigeria come 2019 general election.
He gave this assurance while addressing a mammoth crowd who thronged to witness Middle Belt Conference organised by the Middle Belt Forum (MBF) with the theme: ‘Restructuring Nigeria and Reawakening: The Position of the Middle Belt,’ held in IBB Square, Makurdi, Benue State Capital.
Olawepo-Hashim who condemned the current onslaught by killer herders, especially in the Middle Belt region, however, said the current leadership led by All Progressives Congress (APC) lacks political will to stop the killings, hence the need to change the current leaders.
He said his mission is to rescue Nigerians from abject poverty, create jobs for the teeming Nigerians, particularly youths, and ensure availability of social amenities which will have direct benefit to the entire populace.
According to him, this is a struggle to save Nigeria from an inefficient leadership that has made poverty to be the hallmark of our people. It is a struggle to build a new Nigeria, a struggle to give jobs back to our youths that have nothing to do on daily basis.
He therefore assured Nigerians that his government would fix the nation’s economy, create enabling environment for business to flourish and create jobs for the benefit of all and sundry.
Also speaking, another presidential aspirant, Professor Iyorwuese Hagher said many Nigerians from the region were eminently qualified to become the next president of Nigeria.
In his own speech, a former deputy governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), who is also another aspirant, Dr Obadiah Mailafia said the race was not a do or die affair and whoever emerged among the contestants would be supported during the forthcoming presidential election in 2019.
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