The Socio-cultural Organization “Middle Belt Patriots” has condemned in strong terms a recent threats by the Northern Consensus Movement threatening to stop the supply of food to the Southern parts of the country. This was made available to the press by the Secretary of the Organization Patrick Anum, in Makurdi, the Benue state Capital.
Anum in his statement warned that the Middle Belt is not the same as Northern Nigeria. “Let it be known that the Middle Belt people dissociate themselves from the reckless statements of this group, which, without consultation, has included the Middle Belt territories in its proposed conflict with their host communities in Yoruba land. The divergence in opinion between the Northern Consensus Movement and the Middle Belt people has deep historical roots.
On Thursday, the Northern Consensus Movement vowed to stop the supply of food from the North to the southern part of the country in reaction to statements credited to the Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo popularly known as Sunday Igboho for violent Fulanis to vacate Yoruba land within 10 days.
But the NCM President, Awwal Aliyu, in his Press conference vowed that the group would do everything within its reach to stop the move, adding that if the threat persists, they would force the Yorubas living in the northern parts of the country to evacuate the region including the Middle Belt states.
Aliyu said, “Just recently, Sunday Igboho was released from prison but he issued a fresh ultimatum for the Fulani community that are living in Yoruba land to leave the region within seven days.
“This time around, we the Northern Consensus Movement of Nigeria will do everything possible to stop that move and if he resists listening, then we have no option other than to ask the Yorubas who are living in northern Nigeria to also go back to their region.”
Anum while schooling the group and its leaders said that he was disappointed at the lopsided approach they had used in addressing the issue at hand. He said what is expected of everyone at this critical moment is to condemn the activities of the marauding Fulani herders who go about destroying farmlands and killing innocent Nigerians including in the Northern regions that the NCM claims to represent.
”What we anticipated from the Northern Consensus Movement was a condemnation of the marauding herdsmen and a commitment to assist law enforcement agencies in apprehending criminal elements of Fulani descent responsible for the atrocities in Yoruba land.
“However, instead of doing so, they adopted a confrontational stance, finding fault with the statements made by Sunday Igboho, who issued a 10-day ultimatum to the rampaging herdsmen.
Their interpretation extended this ultimatum to encompass al Hausa and Fulani communities, contrary to the specific focus on criminal elements, as articulated by Sunday Igboho and reinforced by Yoruba Council of Elders.”
He further stated that it is imperative to clarify that what the Middle Belt people understood was that Chief Sunday Igboho’s ultimatum was targeted exclusively at the rampaging herdsmen responsible for widespread insecurity in the South West and was by no means a threat directed at all Fulani and Hausa communities residing in Yoruba land, as some have incorrectly portrayed it to be adding that any organization feeling threatened by actions taken against criminal elements anywhere in Nigeria should be investigated as they may have dangerous affiliations.
Patrick also torched on the complexity of Nigeria as a country quipping “The Middle Belt Patriots, hereby condemn the display of naivety to assert a “homogeneous” one North policy in 2023 when the reality is far from it. There is no one South, and there is no one North.
“The monolithic North encompassing Yoruba people of Kwara, Middle Belt people in the Savannah areas is long gone and nobody should falsely annex us to any colonial identity. Nigeria’s geopolitical landscape necessitates diplomatic resolution, not conflict, as the solution ot our differences, for no one benefits from war.
The creation of states was aimed to emancipate ethnic minorities, and it is essential that no one instigates conflicts or exploits over 200 ethnic groups in the Middle Belt as a pretext. Instead, we should collectively denounce crime and expose criminal elements within our midst, refraining from shielding them or casting blame on others.”
