…says it is hypocritical for middlebelt partners in SMBLF to attend and acknowledge Arewa anniversary.
The African Sociocultural Harmony and Enlightenment (ASHE) Foundation, a think tank group, has stated that the continued acknowledgement of Arewa, that is inclusive of the Middlebelt, is the continued acceptance of Middlebelt region policide and genocide.
In reaction to the recent 25th anniversary of Arewa, ASHE Foundation President, Prince Justice Faloye, in a press release, stated that Arewa is the successor and combination of Sokoto and Bornu Islamic empires, whose Afro-Arabic civilizational imperialistic agenda was political subjugation and cultural annihilation of the South and Middlebelt.
This, according to the statement, was why the South and Middlebelt Leadership Forum (SMBLF), currently chaired by Afenifere Leader HRH Oba Oladipo Olaitan, was noticeably absent from the Arewa 25th anniversary celebrations in Kaduna.
He said the colonial administrative injustice of wrongly grouping Middlebelt indigenous Africans under the Arewa Northern Protectorate, instead of the Southern Protectorate, that they shared genetic and cultural origins, and way of life and civilization, led to the political exclusion and genocidal ethnic cleansing of the indigenous people across the Middlebelt.
“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 his misgivings about Nnamdi Azikiwe, Awolowo voiced his preference for a political alliance with the Igbos.
In 1958, Chief Awolowo entered into an alliance with the United Middle Belt Peoples Congress. Despite the obvious regional affinities, it was not until the 2014 Confab that the South and Middle Belt civilizational political relationship was cemented into the 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 had been 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 lamented that a group purporting to be Afenifere, that are made up of retired elders and ex-officials, attended the so-called anniversary, saying that it was obviously not an Awolowo Afenifere but an Arewa renegade ‘Afenifere’, which is reminiscent of Chief Ladoke Akintola’s Northern alliance NNDP that not only usurped Yoruba political leadership but also Ooni of Ife Oba Aderemi’s civilizational leadership.
He said it is a North-South alliance based not on the principles of social democracy and abundance for all, but on ethnic political exclusion and economic exploitation.
He also noted that the same Afenifere renegades are in support of the political victimization of Igbo in Lagos and in support of the current administration’s anti-poor neoliberal economic policies, as opposed to Afenifere Welfarism.
“Ultimately, those who genuinely want to end the Middlebelt genocide can’t acknowledge Arewa, the vehicle for Afro-Arabic civilizational imperialism towards cultural annihilation of the Middlebelt.
Instead, both concerned local and foreign interventionists should push for restructuring and State police to enable the indigenous African peoples to protect themselves and enjoy representative governance in their self-chosen States or regions,” Faloye stated.