Some Middle Belt youths under the auspices of the Coalition of the Middle Belt Council has threatened to ostracize any of its leaders if they try again to be identified with the northern part of Nigeria, saying the region is not part of the north.
The youths in a renewed battle of autonomy from the north have, however, drawn a battle line with Northern elders under the auspices of Northern Elders Forum (NEF) over the concept of one North, a report by Nigerian Tribune reports.
According to Tribune, the youth groups consisting of all groups representing the region threatened to ostracise any individual of the Middle Belt extraction trying to undermine the political autonomy of the area, the elders insisted on the sanctity of the North as a monolithic entity.
READ MORE: There's Nothing Like MIDDLE BELT, North Is North - Ambassador Yahaya Kwande
The youth, particularly listed a Second Republic Minister and current chairman of the NEF, Chief Paul Unongo, as one of those leaders of the Middle Belt, who risked being ostracized for allegedly undermining the autonomy of the Middle Belt.
The battle of wits came barely a week after a stalwart of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), Ambassador Yahaya Kwande declared as a ruse, the existence of a geographical area called Middle Belt, separate from the perceived monolithic North.
Unongo, who is a former Minister of Mines and Power in the First Republic and hails from Benue State, an area considered to be stronghold of Middle Belt, was recently appointed to lead the NEF following the demise of its chairman Alhaji Maitama Sule.
An angry president of the Middle Belt Youth Council, Emma Zopmal said in Jos, Plateau State, that there was nothing like a monolithic North, adding that the Middle Belt existed differently from the North.
“Middle Belt exists differently from the North and there is nothing like monolithic North. We have lost elder Paul Unongo to the Arewas and he can never represent Middle Belt anywhere.
“Unongo and others have lost the script long ago and therefore they are not relevant in the Middle Belt not even among the Arewas”
In a separate interview with Sunday Tribune, the Convener of the Middle Belt Patriotic Front, Mr Ibrahim Bunu, said Unongo could not speak for the Middle Belt.
“Our main leader widely recognised now is Professor Adamu Baike, who we strongly believe can take the Middle Belt to the next level. Right from the beginning, we have never been part of the North and will never be one. We have no alliance with the north.
READ MORE: 30-year-old Nigerians will contest for presidency, other positions by 2019 – Kwande
“All these people from the Middle Belt romancing with the North are doing so for recognition and in order to make ends meet. They have no following here. They have been ostracized. We are watching them; 2019 is just around the corner,” he said.
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