Elder statesman and first civilian governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, has said that even though the Middle Belt may have some grievances that they remain north and will always work with the region.
He warned the south not to be blinded to think that Northern minorities will work against the North.
He said this in an interview with SUN.
Excerpt
The Middle Belt has also joined the South in calling for restructuring, does it mean that the North is now divided and the monolithic is gone?
I told you about troublemakers. When the civil war came didn’t the Middle Belt unit with the north against Biafra? The war against Biafra was not fought by the Hausa/ Fulani alone, the Middle Belt was greatly involved. Don’t listen to that.
They may have grievances. For instance, when you consider Huasa/Fulani, Kanuri, who are the bases of the Northern leaders.
When you are talking about that the rest of the North, they look too feudal and conservative, and that is justified, there is no doubt about it.
When you come to any issue, Middle Belters prefer to go where historically they have a sense of belonging and that is what happened when the civil war came and they united against Biafra,
Let us have a situation where we all will belong to one Nigeria, where everybody has a sense of belonging.
But, you can’t say the old monolithic north is no more. Because history, resources, population are more in their favour.
Even though the Middle Belt may have some grievances, like I said it should be addressed, but that should not blind people in Nigeria, particularly from the south that when it comes to the end of consideration of any issue that Middle Belters will work against the north; they will always be with the north.
In fact, what relationship has the northern minority in common with the south west in terms of history, in terms of economy and in terms of everything?
What have they got to do with the southeast? We are not talking of principle of humanity.
They have everything to do with the north because historically they have been there, they intermingle, and even economically they are closer.
What economic relationship has the Middle Belt with the west; what economic relation has the Middle Belt with the east?
They have genuine grievances, and that doesn’t mean that they are closer to the south. They are northerners.
