Ahmed Yahaya – Joe
Nigerian governors are essentially political hustlers. These imperial opportunists variously choke their citizens and ravish state finances, gallivanting around on government expense. They absolutely have no respect for neither legislative nor LG autonomy. They have reduced the judiciary to errand boys.
Yet there are glaring differences. Take for instance with Governor Zulum of Borno. And perhaps even Babajide of Lagos whenever his political godfather relaxes the choke on him.
Ortom is a classic example of self-made man who started out as a secondary school drop-out. Yet here we are in a certificate conscious nation.
Smart, articulate, very intelligent and purpose driven he became a conductor before graduating into a commercial bus driver. Eventually becoming a Union boss his traducers accuse him of actually being a motor-park tout all along instead. He is however now a main issue in Nigerian politics.
I was recently in Southern Kaduna. It can best be described as an infrastructure nightmare. Government presence there just like in Benue is a sick joke. I however met a very determined people with vast human resources in huge swaths commercially undeveloped agricultural land. The prospects for agro allied industrial development are great. Sadly, the divisive politics of Kaduna state under Governor el Rufai, another self-made albeit a highly educated political operator makes that a mirage.
The late president Umar Musa Yar’adua openly described himself as a “servant leader” and acted so. Paradoxically, he was from a highly feudal background. He had what is known as “Asali” in Hausa.
An account of when the stormy petrels of the now rested Northern Elements Progressive Union that were summoned to the presence of the dreaded head of the Kano Native Authority is instructive;
“This was a radical political party which questioned colonial rule and the traditional establishment. But Abdullahi Bayero was very cautious. When the NEPU leaders were brought before his court for alleged sedition and the palace officials including Ulama advised the Emir that they deserved death, he refused to accept this advice, arguing that – ‘we must have done something wrong for these young men to challenge us’.”
Bayero was not afflicted with narcissistic leadership psychosis. He looked at the criticism not the critics. He did not personalize the matter. This is unlike our present generation of governors who are arguably the most powerful persons in the political terrain.
Benue is the capital of Nigeria’s restive Middle Belt. MOPOL was created in the 1960s just to fight the “Munchi” over there. These are fiercely independent minded pounded yam eating bush rat munchers and their Okoho soup Idoma neighbors.
According to Dwight D. Eisenhower; “You do not lead by hitting people over the head – that’s assault not leadership.”
You can’t hit Middle Belters and getaway with it. Ask the British, ask Sardauna.
If they are with you, they are with you. If not, you are on your own. As Lt. Col. SB Dimka would say; “We are all together”
This is an advice former President Shehu Shagari took seriously as former President Shehu Shagari launched his 1979 presidential campaign in Gboko. The results were predictable;
“His highest percentage of votes from the states was in this order: Benue 76.38%, Niger 74.88%, Rivers 72.66%, Sokoto 66.58%, Cross River 64.40%, Bauchi 62.48% and Kwara 53.62%. These seven states which are, except Sokoto and Bauchi, not Hausa, or, Fulani, gave him more then 58.9% of the votes he got in the election. Alhaji Shagari obtained, from these seven states, 3,336,600 out of the total of 5,688,857 votes he won in the whole federation, to clinch the presidency.”
The legacy of Joseph Tarka and that of JD Gomwalk is what the Middle Belt thrives upon. And as the Shagari template has shown treat that part of Nigeria as equals with dignity and due respect and the results will speak for themselves. Most significantly, Shagari did not repeat Sardauna’s mistake.
Ahead of the 2019 gubernatorial polls Governor el Rufai openly confessed even if he made the Pope his running mate Southern Kaduna would never vote him. The subsequent results indeed proved him right.
To decode Benue, indeed the entire Middle Belt of Nigeria we must start from Governor Ortom’s cap, the colors of which reflects the numerous ethnicities, languages and dialects therein. Each color has its historical narrative, representing highly resourceful and well exposed people have never had any centralized authority, administrative machinery, or judicial and fiscal institutions that covered vast areas or geographical boundaries.
Middle Belters don’t strategize to dominate or overrun others in the Nigerian project. They nevertheless can fight anybody that crosses their line with the ferocity of a wounded lion.
“Their segmented societies were like mini republics that lacked a common ethnic identity, authority or legitimacy. Each one was a confederacy of communities and villages based upon lineage and kinship systems. Each lived on its own and was independent of others because the sense of tribal affinity and unity excluded all those that did not belong.”
The dynamics have however altered in the genius of Ortom’s multicolored cap. It represents an ingathering of autonochous peoples that straddle the mid rift of Nigeria. A rainbow coalition of martial tribes hurriedly patched together thanks but, no thanks to the recent antics of Miyetti Allah.
President Shagari had his issues but he knew how to properly manage Nigeria’s complex diversity.
Governor Ortom does not have to worry about building flyover bridges, township roads, embark on rural transformation nor any major infrastructure project.
Miyetti Allah as the opium of the people surfeits.
