Middle Belt Youth Council (MBYC) has declared their support
for the Ndigbo in face of eviction threat by coalition of Arewa youth, saying
Ndigbo are always welcome to the Middle Belt, reports ITRealms.
The President of Middle Belt Youth Council (MBYC), Emma
Zopmal, in a press statement endorsed by him personally and made available to ITRealms, said they were about the
ongoing regional tension in Nigeria today and wishes to make her position clear
to the world.
As said by Zopmal, in the light of incessant threats to one
Nigeria posed by killer-herdsmen, they want to call on good people of Middle
Belt to first of all, support the anti-grazing Bill, stressing that grazing by
Fulani herdsmen on Middle Belt land has become the major cause of conflicts in the
region.
“We're calling for total ban on open grazing so as to save
the lives of our people and their farmlands,” he said.
Also, he noted that Nigeria is facing a daunting challenge
of peace and unity but assured on the good citizens of Nigeria that they have
been a peace-loving people and remain so.
Warning that in any event one part of the country decides to
go away as a separate entity, the Middle Belt is ready to make an independent
statement.
“We want to clarify those who think that the Middle Belt is
part of the North: God created everywhere and everyone and He gave it to whom
He chooses and Middle Belt is a creation of God and not man (Usman bn Fodio),” the
council said.
MBYC, therefore said, they choose what to use their land
for; how to run it and where we want to be. Middle Belt has been a home for the
Ohanaeze Ndigbo, South-South and the South-West without any form of
discrimination against anyone.
“We've accommodated every Nigerian for centuries now. We deserve
respect and commendations,” the council said.
MBYC declared that if the Arewa youths are sending away
Igbos from their states, “we in the Middle Belt are ready to offer them
accommodation in our land for them to continue with their life and businesses.”
Southern Nigeria people, he said, should know that 'Middle Belters'
are not northerners and will never be because “we're not affiliated in terms of
culture, language, education, economy, and general lifestyle. The Biafran
struggle did not come as an accident but as a result of injustice and unfair
treatment to regions, people or religion.
Over the years, the group said, the federalism has been a
fat lie that deprives political rights and freedom of some sections of the
country while others benefit immensely from it. Middle Belt has been at the
receiving end of this inequitable arrangement in which people in Southern
Kaduna, Southern Bauchi, Southern Borno, Southern Kebbi, Adamawa are under
constant alienation and annihilation.
Therefore, Middle Belt strongly stands for reconstruction of
Nigeria not only restructuring.
“We'll join hands with Southern Nigerian people to actualize
it. In view of this press statement, we want to urge Middle Belters to remain
resolute in making sure we protect our future against the claims by the
Hausa/Fulani. More so, for want of peace and unity of dear country Nigeria, we
call on Igbo nation to feel at home in the Middle Belt in an event they are
sent away from the Arewa land,” he submitted.
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