Bitrus Pogu is the national president of the Middle Belt Forum, a body which is made up of the non-Hausa, Fulani ethnic groups in the North. He tells Daily Sun that the Middle Belt will continue to fight for emancipation and against the general perception that they are all part of one monolithic (huge) North which is united by language and culture.
A former commissioner of Police from Benue State, Abubakar Tsav, has said that the leaders of your organisation are noise makers because you say that the Middle Belt should not be regarded as part of the monolithic North. What is your response to his statement?
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People, who held leadership in the Middle Belt Forum right from the onset with the forebears like JF Tarka from his state, initiated the process of the establishment of the Middle Belt Movement which is now the Middle Belt Forum. There have been prominent people who have held the leadership position of the forum; people like TY Danjuma, Dan Suleiman, the late Olusola Saraki, Prof. Jerry Gana, etc. These are people of credibility and honour and they have always stood firm for the emancipation of the other nationalities other than the Hausa/Fulani in the North in spite of the fact that states have been created and have become entities of their own.
For reasons which are beneficial to the far North which consists mainly of Hausa/Fulani, they have continued to insist that the North has to be monolithic because that is how they get the numbers; by emasculating other ethnic groups. The treachery we have received has gotten us to a drowning phase and we cannot continue to maintain that relationship, we would rather move with more progressive people who want Nigeria to move forward and that is why we said what we said. Tsav is speaking for himself; he wants recognition from the people who are his paymasters. The Middle Belt Forum will continue to stand for the people.