The Nigerian Village Square - Wither The Middle Belt ?

Wither The Middle Belt ?

Monday, 08 December 2003

Monday, December 8, 2003

The movement which has historically been predicated on pro-Middle Belt advocacy and politics is today largely devoid of its mystique and symbolism as the ideological vehicle for social justice and minority rights in Nigeria. As a movement, the Middle Belt bandwagon is currently bogged down, infested, as it were, with a curious assemblage of opportunists whose raison d’être seems to be an uncanny ability to annoy by the mouthing of inanities and pussyfooting on issues of critical national significance. That is when they are not playing the role of court jesters or readily submitting to the manipulative antics of vicious power brokers at Aso Rock. Locally, internecine squabbling for petty advantage and influence has meant that working for the welfare of the people has sadly taken the back seat. Suddenly, what in the heyday of the Tarkar-led activism was seen as being synonymous with visionary politics and leadership is now regarded as a bad joke, thanks to the conduct of those paying lip service to its ethos. The Middle Belt movement and politics in general have over the years tended to attract an assortment of individuals ranging from grim military buccaneers , crappy political jobbers, sectarian foot soldiers of dubious morality, tribalist power mongers, carpet-baggers as well as the self-important local thug or hustler who may also double as a contractor.

As has often been the case with ideological movements, the Middle Belt version is today suffering from the tensions arising from the imperative to articulate an issue-specific advocacy and the temptation on the part of some militants to use the moral authority of that advocacy in the promotion of partisan political objectives. That such tensions exist is in itself not bad. There arises a problem when individuals or groups try to use a movement like the pro-Middle Belt advocacy as a tool for the pursuit of questionable or selfish goals which are at variance with the lofty objectives enunciated in the movement’s charter. And crucially, there need not be a contradiction between the advocacy which has as its plank the defence of minority rights in the Middle Belt and involvement by representatives of that advocacy in national partisan party politics, especially where such politics is seen as a continuum – the logical extension of the general worldview of the movement in question. It is at this level of the blurring of lines between social activism and political partisanship that one must locate the debate on the future of the Middle Belt and its peoples. Today, a myriad of groups with names and profiles which their so-called leaders or “big ogas” will be hard pressed to say what exactly they stand for are laying claim to pro-Middle Belt advocacy. One may argue that the public behaviour of the Middle Belt activist or “big oga”is reflective of the wayward mien of the average Nigerian politician.This is cold comfort for a people who, as can be attested in the case of the Tivs of Benue, have historically suffered more than most groups because of bad government at both the federal and local levels. Yet, despite the status of the Tivs as a marginalised people, the current crop of Tiv political leaders have generally failed to make a meaningful impact nationally and locally, not to talk of positively influencing the lives of the average Tiv or Middle Belter. Indeed, it is fair to say that the relative irrelevance of the Tiv political class at the level of national political engagement today mirrors the condition of general neglect and underdevelopment which Tiv land and its people have historically been subjected to since independence. If we agree that politics is about making our lives better and more fulfilling, we must draw the painful conclusion that, to a large extent, the Tiv politicians of today have individually and collectively failed to live up to the minimum expectations of the people they claim to represent. Under normal circumstances, due to a host of salient factors and in particular the existence of a significant local intellectual elite and the demographic position of the Tivs as perhaps the fourth or fifth largest ethnic group in Nigeria and the largest in what traditionally has been understood to mean the Middle Belt, Tivs should play leadership roles in all the strategic sectors of our national life. That their elites have been unable to work more closely together in the realization of the aspirations of their people is a telling indictment of the wisdom ( or lack of it ) of our present crop of so-called federal politicians in particular. To have allowed the likes of Solomon Lar and Dan Suleiman to virtually hijack Middle Belt minority advocacy and politics which they have arguably used and abused as grotesque instruments for the negotiation of personal favors, or worse, as weapons in the hands of a dictator like Obasanjo is most worrisome indeed. As is the case with the Nigerian political class in general, there exists a troubling disconnect between the Middle Belt advocacy elite and the legitimate concerns of those they claim to speak for.

Of late, the activities of some members of the Middle Belt advocacy establishment have been receiving increased media attention. Part of that apparent renewal of media focus has had to do with the sundry campaigns for the 2007 presidency. A key Middle Belt pol who is on record as having made pronouncements on 2007 is the unbelievably incoherent Solomon Lar. Lar would want Nigerians to accord more than a passing thought to his wooly idea about what he and his likes refer to as the “geographical Middle Belt” which is so elastic as to include almost every ethnic minority hamlet in the North. Even his notion of an “ideological Middle Belt”, although less contentious, is bound to be greeted today with suspicion and even derision. What has Mr. Lar done in the last five-odd years to show that he is truly commited to the defence of human rights and democracy in Nigeria? When his “buddy” Obasanjo engaged in murderous campaigns of

extermination and mayhem targeting ethnic minorities in Tiv land and in the Niger-Delta, what did he and the likes of Dan Suleiman do to call to order Nigeria’s current tyrant? Yet, we are told that these are noble party men, not to talk of their role as self-proclaimed advocates for human rights. If minority rights advocacy for these people is mostly perceived from the vantage point of the privileges it confers on them or their families as in the situation of the recent ambassadorial nominations by the Obasanjo regime, then we are in more serious trouble than we ever imagined. There is also the case of retired Maj. General Theophilus Danjuma. Danjuma has played controversial roles in the present Obasanjo regime. He is said to be one of the people who bankrolled Obasanjo’s ascendancy in 1999. As minister of Defence, he was accused of involvement in the Jukun-Tiv ethnic crisis. Shortly before he left the Obasanjo cabinet a few months ago, he reportedly said that that crisis was perhaps the most trying event of his tenure. Now, Danjuma is said to champion the rights of Christians in the North. This seems to be one of his favorite “retirement” pastimes. The logical question to ask here is what is Danjuma doing today, besides proclaiming his innocence regarding allegations of partisan involvement in the Jukun-Tiv crisis, to heal ethnic divisions in the Middle Belt and the North in general as well as make sure that the victims of the military massacres in Tiv land in 2001, like those of Odi, are adequately compensated and the culprits fished out and punished?

Other Middle Belt politicians like Barnabas Gemade, the erstwhile PDP chairman, Major General (rtd.) Onoja and David Mark have also largely remained silent in the face of the gross human rights abuses by the current regime. We can’t remember Gemade, for instance, as being on record as having taken a position or issued a statement condemning the Obasanjo-sponsored military massacres of innocent civilians in Tiv land in 2001. This genocide was perpetrated while Gemade - a Tiv man - suppossedly held sway as chairman of the PDP. Despite Obasanjo’s atrocious record, the Middle Belt political class and especially its PDP wing in Benue, went on to campaign for Obasanjo in the controversial 2003 elections. Perhaps these honourable men and women know something we lowly mortals may not be privy to? Dr. Ayu, minister for Internal Affairs, is even on record as having said that after the elections, Obasanjo would rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the Benue people. Well, I’m afraid, the odds of that happening aren’t good. I leave the reader to draw his own conclusions based on his reading of the present quagmire in our polity. What the remorseless Obasanjo seems to be doing these days, though, is the pursuit of his purge of Tiv sons from federal institutions.

The problem in Benue is that much of the opposition, apart from it being largely ineffectual, is peopled by individuals whose political conduct is both opportunistic and tipped in sleazy calculation and posture – hardly the proposition to move us away from the status quo! The point I am making is that in Benue state today, irrespective of ideological affiliation, extremely selfish, anti-people tendencies would seem to be the abiding force behind much of the politicking going on amongst the elites. In Tiv land, the unnecessary in-fighting amongst the key political figures has partly been responsible for some of the injustices we have historically suffered at the hands of our enemies like the Obasanjo-sanctioned 2001 military invasion of Zaki Biam and surrounding villages. The clannish mindset of the Tiv elites is harmful to the overall interests of the people. The Tiv political class and the Tiv people for that matter, must demonstrate that they are individually and collectively capable of adapting to the new challenges of the Nigerian political scene through a renewed determination to be their brother’s keeper wherever they may be. It is this spirit of self-abnegation coupled with a keen sense of community which endeared the masses in the Middle Belt and beyond to Tarkar and his politics. There are good and decent leaders in Benue, and their impact would be felt much more were the people to live up to their responsibility of sitting up and demanding that their government - at all levels - and politicians in general pay greater attention to their needs. In the medium and long-term, Benue would once again act as the beacon of hope and moral leadership in Nigeria along the lines of the Joseph Sarwuan Tarkar trajectory. But to do that, its politicians, elites and people in general must discard their self-destructive politics of pulling down one another in petty wars of attrition and mutual annihilation. They should know that allowing short-sighted opportunists to hijack their collective development agenda for purposes other than the defence of their noble aspirations is not in their interest. This would, amongst other things, necessitate a redefinition of the Middle Belt minority advocacy to wean it from its current over-reliance on a dated discourse à la Solomon Lar which sees Hausa-Fulani hegemonist demons on every tree in the North. The shrill clarions of advocacy for minority rights by the likes of Lar have meant an increasing desperation to play to the gallery of religious and tribalist division by indulging in the kind of sectarian posturing for which President Obasanjo is now notorious. Honest stock-taking devoid of emotionalism and anachronistic preachment will be critical in determining the way forward. Pertinent questions will have to be asked. For instance, how have the Nigerian people of which Benue citizens are an integral part fared under successive regimes? And critically, how have our leaders performed to warrant our respect? The regime of the former dictator, Gen.Babangida – himself from Niger state in the Middle Belt – was responsible for the unprecedented socio-economic decline of Nigeria. The impact of the political and fiscal recklessness of that regime was to be felt far and wide, especially in Benue. On the issue of human rights, Babangida’s regime was the one which ordered the physical elimination of some of the most talented Middle Belt officers in the Nigerian army, including the likes of Lt.Col. Iorshe, Captain G. Ahura and Maj.General Vatsa, on bogus charges of coup-plotting. It is said that instead of fighting to save the lives of the victims, key figures in Tiv land tried to capitalize on their problems in the bid to curry favor with the dictator.! Some of these Tiv “big men” were said to have washed their hands of the plight of the poor young Tiv men facing the butcher’s guillotine, each dismissively saying “mo yo m fa kwagh la ga”! Translation: “I couldn’t be bothered”!, or that “they deserve what is coming to them” ! So, it came to pass that some of the most brilliant officers the Nigerian army has ever produced were abandoned to their fate. Apart from the debilitating social and economic practices of his regime, Babangida’s assault on Nigeria’s democratic process in 1993 created terrible rifts in the polity. The truculently incompetent Obasanjo dictatorship has since then smashed the record of previous regimes by arguably becoming the most divisive, the most vicious and yes, the most corrupt government so far in the history of Nigeria.

It goes without saying that if he were alive today, the man who is fondly referred to as J.S. would be deeply pained by what has actually happened to the movement he helped nurture in the best tradition of political activism and social responsibility. Before he departed from this world, Tarkar had established a legacy so solid that he was confident enough to opt for accomodation with those whose practices he had selflessly and steadfastly fought. His foibles notwithstanding, he was first and foremost a nation builder who erected bridges of consensus across the Nigerian cultural divide by actively seeking understanding with the likes of Awolowo, Sardauna, Gowon, Azikiwe and Enahoro. It is ironical that the early signs of centrifugal rascality against what he stood for would emanate from within the confines of his Tiv land through acts of orchestrated blackmail and pedestrian heckling which had little or nothing to do with honest dissent. It is a sad commentary on the Nigerian political culture that those who have made a living as agents of political rascality and brigandage are the ones jostling today to call the shots locally and nationally. Benue, and by extension the Middle Belt and the rest of the country have a patriotic duty to rid our polity of its army of scoundrels and opportunists whose conduct only serves to diminish the J.S. Tarkar vision of modern Nigeria.

Aonduna Tondu.

New York.

Robot Robot is offline
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	# 1 ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot\| 13.11.2005 14:27

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