By Omolade Adegbuyi and Ologeh Joseph Chibu
The people of the Middle Belt will resist any attempt to lump them in Arewa North, the largest coalition in the Middle Belt has said.
In a statement made available to Irohinoodua, the United Middle Belt Indigenous Peoples Congress, (UMBIPC) said it was appalled by a viral video calling for Arewa Republic which included the entire Middle Belt.
The group said there are a lot of contradictions in the North today and that the Middle Belt has assumed a life of its own free from the yoke of the past.
The leader of the coalition, Barrister Onalo Abukar Omobaba said the people of the Middle Belt have been holding series of meetings and that there was no time they agreed to be part of Arewa.
He said at present the Middle Belt people are “trapped under Northern Nigeria.”
He said “We vehemently and stubbornly oppose our inclusion into Arewa Republic.”
The group said those who joined the middle Belt in the map of Arewa Republic are building castles in the air.
“They are not facing the reality of modern Middle Belt and we shall ensure that the Map of the Middle Belt Region exist only in their mindset any moment from now. They will no longer continue to use and dump us any longer.”
He said further “Our eyes are already wide opened. Let them abandon Arewa Republic and join Middle Belt. We can no longer join anything Arewa and let this be very, very clear to them every Region is opting to stand on its own.”
The group said the Middle Belt has what it takes to stand on its own adding that they have the Ajaokuta steel industry, Itakpe steel, gold, columbite, mass productions of foods and cash crops in the middle Belt and over times have built lasting and mutual relationship with the Oodua, Niger delta, Ndigbo, and the international community.”
They stated further “They should note that we are not people that take decision and go back, Dr. J.S. Tarka, Mailaifa, Gen. T Y. Danjuma, chief Solomon Lar, Gen.Zamani Lekwok, Dapub, Amen Oboni the great Attach of Igala who refused to remove his cap to great the Sultan of Sokoto at Northern Emirs meetings at Kaduna demonstrated that we cannot be held captives forever and in their well informed ideas and philosophies has become our power of shared visions.”
The group cautioned Arewa that they should know this even up to UNITED NATIONS we shall fight for our own Republic.
It said “Let them not take us for granted for those days are over. We have nothing to lose staying on our own and even when we have something to lose they should mind their own and leave us alone. They should prepare their minds to stay without us the earlier the better for them because we have already taken our own stand and have already mobilised and sensitized the indigenous peoples of the middle Belt.”
It stated “They will be highly disappointed that nothing like Arewa Republic exist on our land”
