The Middle Belt Dialogue Forum (MBDF) has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to correct the deliberate exclusion of the Middle Belt from the political arrangement of the Nigerian nation.

The forum, in a statement signed by its spokesman Mr. Rima Shawulu Kwewum and made available to journalists in Kaduna at the weekend, noted that apart from Gen. Yakubu Gowon (rtd) who had leadership thrust upon him and worked laboriously to keep Nigeria one, the people of the Middle Belt have been neglected, and glossed over when it comes to the sharing of political positions.

“The irony of our time” the statement reads “is that the Middle Belters are often included in the definition of northern Nigeria when population figures are compiled and when they are negotiating for political consideration, but at no time are Middle Belters considered fit to occupy plum on behalf of the North.

“This point is driven home by the fact that the position of the Vice president in 1999, 2003 went to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. When the presidency was zoned to the North in 2007, the late Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar Adua took the slot; it makes sense therefore that at this point of our history, the North should concede this position to the ethnic nationalities of the Middle Belt.

“Time has now come for the country to correct this ill of ignoring ethnic nationalities of the Middle Belt. There are within the area professionals and astute politicians who are eminently qualified to be Vice President - and it would be tragic, if the President would ignore these people and go back to pick from the far north which has had more than its fair share of senior political positions, including the position of President and Vice President”.

The MBDF pointed out that when power moves to the West, it is presumed to have gone to the Yorubas, the South -South refers to the ethnic nationalities of the Niger Delta while South East refers to the Igbo, stressing that the impression should not be created that there are no people in the Middle Belt.

“Some people may argue that the Presidency needs to be balanced by a Hausa Fulani Muslim Vice President. That argument ignores the fact that the Middle Belt needs to be balanced too. It has been left in the cold for too long.

“It will be recalled that between 1984 and 1985 the head of state, General Mohammadu Buhari and his deputy General Tunde Idiagbon were both of the Hausa Fulani and were accepted by Nigerians. In 1993 a Muslim southerner, M.K.O Abiola picked a northern Muslim, Babagana Kingibe as his running mate. Religion should therefore not be used to discriminate against the Middle Belt” the forum argued.

It therefore, urged that in order to balance the distorted federal system, the Vice President should be a Christian Middle Belter, stressing that these are unusual times and there is the need to seize the occasion to stabilize Nigeria.

The Forum further expressed its condolence to the family of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Nigerians, describing his death as an irreparable and irreplaceable loss to the nation.

“We are particularly saddened because the late president had his secondary education (at Government College, Keffi) within the Middle Belt and had imbibed our well known principles of fairness which is why he chose electoral reforms as his key programme, and we had hoped that as a president who committed himself to electoral reform, Nigeria would have advanced under his rule were it not for his ill health which hampered his efforts.

While praying God to give the Yar’adua family the courage and strength to bear the loss, the MBDF also pray God to guide and strengthen President Goodluck Jonathan and give him the courage and wisdom to lead the country aright, especially by “rectifying the historical wrong, particularly the glaring injustice and marginalization of the people of the Middle Belt.

ENDS