Foundation knocks middlebelt inclusion in AREWA agenda

The African Sociocultural Harmony and Enlightenment (ASHE) Foundation has stated that the continued recognition of Arewa, including the Middlebelt, signifies acceptance of police actions and genocide against the region.

In a press release for Arewa’s 25th anniversary, ASHE President Prince Justice Faloye highlighted that Arewa is the successor to the Sokoto and Bornu Islamic empires, which aimed to subjugate and culturally annihilate the South and Middlebelt politically.

“Chief Awolowo had always shown a preference for political cooperation with the rest of the South and Middlebelt, while categorically stating that an alliance with the North would be a master-servant relationship in favour of the North. Regardless of misgivings with Nnamdi Azikwe, Awolowo voiced his preference for a political alliance with Igbos, while in 1958, Chief Awolowo went into alliance with the United Middlebelt Peoples Congress. Despite the obvious regional affinities, it took up to the 2014 Confab to cement the South and Middlebelt civilizational political relationship into SMBLF.

“The existence of SMBLF challenges the current North-South boundary that is far below the River Niger, since the colonial demarcation neither reflects geographic equidistance that is Abuja, nor the civilizational divide of indigenous Africans and Afro-Arabians between Zaria and Kaduna. Exploiting the civilizational unjust colonial misappropriation, the Arewa not only promotes political exclusion, but tacitly supports ethnic cleansing of the indigenous African groups by herdsmen and jihadists, which has now resulted in international condemnation and threat of foreign invasion to stop alleged Christian Genocide in the Middlebelt.

“At the 2014 Confab Sovereign Conference, indigenous African peoples seeking a just and equitable federation came to a consensual agreement that advocated hundreds of resolutions that included the formation of State police, devolution of power to States and the right of ethnic minorities to use referendums to join conjoining States, which, if implemented, would have curbed insecurity and insurgency.

Therefore, it would be hypocritical for Middlebelt partners in SMBLF to attend and acknowledge Arewa anniversary with those that sabotaged the implementation of restructuring resolutions for a decade,” the statement reads.

Faloye noted the absence of the South and Middlebelt Leadership Forum (SMBLF), chaired by Afenifere Leader HRH Oba Oladipo Olaitan, from the anniversary celebrations in Kaduna. He criticised the colonial misclassification of the Middlebelt’s Indigenous people as part of the Arewa Northern Protectorate, which led to their political exclusion and ethnic cleansing. Faloye expressed disappointment that a group claiming to represent Afenifere attended the anniversary, asserting that it was not the authentic Afenifere founded by Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

He described the current alliance as primarily focused on ethnic exclusion and economic exploitation, supporting the political victimisation of the Igbo in Lagos. “Those who truly want to end the Middlebelt genocide must reject Arewa, which facilitates cultural annihilation, and instead advocate for restructuring and state police to empower Indigenous peoples for self-protection and representative governance,” Faloye stated.