Benue: Withdraw from the Northern Governors Forum

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What has Benue benefitted from being a member of the Northern Governors forum or Arewa Consultative Forum.

This grouping is a legacy from colonial rule that lumped and invariably subdued.the great middle belt and its people under the rule of the Caliphate and through which administrative officers descended from the core north to rule middle-belt provinces before the creation of States in 1966.

How has membership of this group helped the middle-belt particularly Benue and Taraba who have over the years suffered many incursions and ravages of its fertile farmlands by marauding hordes of Fulani cattle herds men searching for arable grassland to feed their cattle.

How has membership of this group benefitted Plateau state who have suffered horrendously from fights between the indigenes and settlers looking to annex their lands turning the once peaceful Jos into a mini Mogadishu.

Finally, how has membership of this association helped the Middlebelt secure Aso Rock. The reverse appears to be the case most recently as by all calculations it was the turn of the middle-belt to produce the APC presidential candidate to seize the presidency from GEJ but there was no Middlebelt strong man who could make the case and it invariably returned to the dominant NW represented by PMB who narrowly defeated the NE's Atiku and the rest is history.

In the race for 2019 in the event that PMB does not seek re-election it is becoming clear that the SE is not guaranteed an automatic ticket in fact politicians from the NW or NE and the Senate President are all seriously angling for the ticket (to the detriment of other regions particularly the middle-belt who fall within the old northern region) if news reports including about former PDP chairman are to be believed. So, the question is where does that leave the middle-belt who will again get sidelined in the race for Aso Rock.

Presently the middle-belt faces an even bleaker future in securing federal employment based on the partial appointments by PMB of NW and NE indigenes that would make it tougher for middle belt indigenes to gain a foothold in Abuja as nepotism is a respected virtue in Nigeria today.

Presently the grouping is an anomaly as the Middle belt is as Christian in orientation as the NE and NW is virulently Islamic. The NW is as hegemonic and monolithic as the middle-belt is made up of several large tribes with different traditions and paramount rulers who are not equal to the Sultan in ranking in this group. 

It is time for the old Middlebelt states of Benue, Taraba, Kogi and Plateau state to form its own middle belt governors forum and association to present a common front to address the security issues and neglect of this excessively rich and powerful region that is being dominated by the issues of the more strategically powerful NW and NW.

Review notes of the minutes of the recently held northern governors forum show and it should come as no surprise that this conference is dominated by discussions about the self-inflicted civil war in the NE and its humanitarian crises that bears no similarity to horrors experienced by peaceful middlebelterners who suffer due to the activities of miscreants from the NW and NE. 

This usurpation of the agenda continues the trend of sidelining the ongoing incidents like the Aguatu and Zaki Biam massacres that are swept under the rug as inconsequential in comparison to the problems in the NE, when the reality and ongoing killings in the Middlebelt beg to differ, there is nary a whimper about compensation or a plan to rebuild the middle-belt as is being advocated for the NE. 

It is time for the Middlebelt to form its independent political identity to address the problems of the region.

The region needs another reincarnation of JS Tarka to advocate for the region and go into the opposition like Solomon Lar the former NPP governor of Plateau state and align with elements in the south to secure more inroads for the region than merely having a seat at the table.

Where are all the valiant men and women of the middle-belt, it is time to rise and assume control of the table.


By Terhemba Osuji | September 12, 2015

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