KEY POINTS
- Middle-Belt people have called for the status of a region different to Northern Nigeria.
- CIMBO has to demand that the 2014 National Conference report be implemented, with particular emphasis on state creation.
- Coalition demands for a review of the constitution through the holding of a referendum by all citizens of Nigeria.
The press release said that the Coalition demands Middle-Belt identity and that the implementation of the recommendations made during the summit should also be effected. The Coalition of Indigenous Middle Belt Ethnic Organisations (CIMBO) wants President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to accept the Middle Belmont as a separate region to fight the perennial problem of poor treatment of the Middle-Belt. The CIMBO’s chairman, Timothy B. Gandu, reinforced the same opinion, saying that the Middle-Belt is not only a geographical expression but a cultural one as well.
The call for recognition comes at a time when internal domination and a denial of autonomy has seen Nigeria go through its colonial masters.Their Minorities Commission Report in 1958 proposed for the Middle-Belt to be given a measure of autonomy which through tact with the NPC was never going to happen.
A call for more autonomy and representation
The coalition has tendered the following demands that seeks to redress the injustices on the Middle-Belt; These are; the implementation of the report that came out of the 2014 National Conference which called for the creation of eight new states nested in the region. They also demand recognition of the Middle-Belt as having no reason with Northern Nigeria and the desire for increased participation in the nation’s political structure.
Gandu also re-echoed the importance of having a new constitution drafted by the people of Nigeria by themselves through the mechanism of referendum. He insisted that this would give a voice to all people, and particularly a voice to the voiceless in the future of the nation. “A clear identity for the Middle-Belt and increased representation will be fairness and togetherness,” Gandu said.
The social context of the exclusion of middle belt
Nevertheless, Middle-Belt region has been marginalized systematically immediately after the independence in political as well as in the economic sector. Having tried to hold various forms of autonomy the demands have been ignored thus lacking in their development and comprehensive representation. The coalition insists that: it is imperative to attend to these issues in order to achieve the stability of a nation.
Accoding to Vanguard, Gandu also urged the government to allow the region to vote on the issue of secession so that no one would be left out in the building of the Nigerian nation.
