…With alphabetical listings of ethnic nationalities.
By our Correspondent.
Most people in this country get confused, or ignorant, of the Middle-Belt Region. Some of the print media in Nigeria went into publicity that the Middle-Belt seeks identification. Which identification, when each and every grown-up Nigerian knows that the Middle-Belt is as old as Nigeria.
The Region had members of the United Middle-Belt Congress (UMBC) in Parliament in Lagos during the time of J.S. Tarka. Besides, people like Rev David Lot, Amb. Tanko Jolly Yusuf, Edward Mamiso, Josiah S. Olawoye, Bitrus Rwang Pam and many others were in the House of Assembly in the defunct Northern House of Assembly.
It is the carving-out of the six geo-political zones of Abacha’s regime that made the Middle-Belt a beggar for identification. When the military, under Abacha, was carving out the six geo-political zones, a political chieftain of Kwara, in the Middle-Belt, went down asking that the military should not include name of the Middle-Belt, but rather artificial North Central State because, according to him, carving out name of Middle-Belt was to sink identity of Hausas and Fulanis in the North?
If a Kwara Middle-Belter could be so diabolical as to go to Abacha saying he is a Fulani by origin, and requested that name of North Central State be used in place of the Middle-Belt, so as to pretend that the North is vast, when in fact she is presently narrowed to only nine states of North East and North West.
Despite the creation of the artificial (fake) name of North Central State, in 2000, the consciousness of the Middle-Belt was revived on the minds of Middle-Belters. Such artificial name is fraud and, so cannot still maintain the former size of defunct North, nor can it sink the identity of the Middle-Belt. Today, people are much more informed of their identity than yesterday.
If this country shall survive to tell the truth, all the ethnic nationalities within their common geographical locations should be given their rights. This is the only way this country can survive. There is nothing like “North-Central.” It is a complete political lies.
Some of the greedy and irresponsible politicians want to swallow the Middle-Belt and get it buried under the carpet, which is not going to be possible. The term, “North Central,” is fraud, and it will continue to be rejected by the ethnic nationalities of the Middle-Belt Region.
ALPHABETICAL LISTINGS OF SOME TRIBES IN THE MIDDLE-BELT REGION (Compiled by the Research Department of this Paper).
(A) 1 ADARA
2 AFEZERE
3 AFO
4 AGATU
5 AGOROK
6 AJIRI
7 AKYE
8 ALAGGO
9 ALEMU
10 ALPA
11 AMO
12 ANGUTA
13 ANGAMO
14 ANGAS
15 ANGHAN KAMANTON
16 ANGWAL
17 ANKUNG
18 ARAK
19 ARUM
20 ATYAP
21 AWAK
22 AYU
(B) 1 BACHAMA
2 BA’ISSA
3 BAJU
4 BAKULU
5 BALI
6 BAMBUKA
7 BANDAWA
8 BANDUWA
9 BANGUJI
10 BASSA
11 BASSA-KOMO
12 BASSA-NGYE
13 BATTA
14 BAZZA
15 BEROM
16 BILLE
17 BINAWA
18 BISHINI
19 BOGGHAM
20 BOLEWA
21 BORGU
22 BOSSOKU
23 BULA
24 BURA
(C) 1 CESSU
2 CHALLA-BOKKOS
3 CHAM
4 CHAMBA
5 CHIBOK
6 CHIP
7 CHORI
(D) 1 DADANE
2 DADIYA
3 DINGI
(E) 1 EBIRRA
2 EGGON
3 ETULO
(F) 1 FAKAWA
2 FALI
3 FANTSUM
4 FER
5 FIEM
6 FILIYA
7 FUNNE
(G) 1 GA’ANDA
2 GADO
3 GASI
4 GBAGYI
5 GELEWA
6 GEOMAI
7 GOMUM
8 GONGLA
9 GUDE
10 GUDUF
11 GURE
12 GUTEB
13 GWAMBA
14 GWANDARA
(H) 1 HAM
2 HIGGI
3 HOLMA
4 HONA
(I) 1 IDOMA
2 IGALA
3 IGEDDE
4 INGEZAM
5 ITCHEN
6 IKULU
(J) 1 JANGI
2 JARA/JERA
3 JARAWA
4 JENJO
5 JERE
6 JIBBU
7 JUKUN
8 JABA
(K) 1 KAGOMA
2 KAHUGU
3 KAIBI
4 KAKAN
5 KAKANDAN
6 KAMBARI
7 MANBUL
8 KAMO
9 KAMUKU
10 KANAKURU
11 KANUFI
12 KAREKARE
13 KARINJO
14 KATIN
15 KATUGAL
16 KENYI
17 KIGONO
18 KILBA
19 KINUGU
20 KITIMI
21 KIWAFA
22 KIWULO
23 KOMA
24 KONNA
25 KONO
26 KORO
27 KOTO
28 KPASHAM
29 KULERE
30 KUNJN
31 KURAMA
32 KURORI
33 KUSHI
34 KUTURMI
35 KWAH
36 KWALAWA
37 KWALLA
38 KWASAM
39 KWOI
(L) 1 LA
2 LAMUNG
3 LANJA
4 LAU
5 LEMORO
6 LIBO
7 LONGUDA
8 LORA
(M) 1 MADA
2 MARDAN
3 MARGHI
4 MATAKAM
5 MAVO
6 MBULA
7 MIGBILI
8 MUMUYE
9 MUNCHIKA
10 MUNGA
11 MUPUN
12 MWAGHAVUL
13 MWANNA
(N) 1 NANDU
2 NGIZIM
3 NGWABA
4 NIDEM
5 NINGAWA
6 NINGESHE
7 NINKADA
8 NINKYOP
9 NINZO
10 NINZOM
11 NJANYI
12 NUMANA
13 NUPE
(O) 1 OGORI
(P) 1 PABOR (BABUR)
2 PANSO
3 PERO
4 PITI
5 POTOKOI
(R) 1 RIBANG
2 RINDRE
3 RISHUWA
4 RON/KULERE
5 RUMADA
6 RUMAYA
7 RURUMA
(S) 1 SAMBAN
2 SAYAWA
3 SHENAWA
4 SIYAWA
5 SOLIO
6 SUKUR
7 SURUBU
8 SUWA
(T) 1 TAIMEN
2 TAKKAD
3 TAMBO
4 TANGALE
5 TAROK
6 TARRI
7 TEL (MONTOL)
8 TERA
9 TIGUN
10 TILLAH
11 TIV
12 TSAM
13 TUKU
14 TULA
15 TURKWAN
(U) 1 UDORO
2 UNGWAI
(V) 1 VERRE
(W) 1 WAGGA
2 WAHA
3 WAJA
4 WAKA
5 WULA
6 WUPSI
7 WURKUM
8 WURO
(Y) 1 YANDANG
2 YASHI
3 YANDAM
4 YENJO
5 YESKUWA
6 YESKWA
7 YOFO
8 YORUBA (OKUN)
9 YWOM
10 YUNGUR
(Z) 1 ZARA
From these facts on the ethnic nationalities, the Middle-Belt deserves two regions. The Middle-Belters should, in view of the geopolitical zone at this time of Nigerian democratic experiment, wake up and take their destiny in their hands and work for the economic and political aspirations of their people.