Middle Belt otherwise known as the North Central Zone is the most undeveloped area out of the present six-geo-political entities in the country. This has made most of us regret to come from the area. Often those of us from the area are so embarrassed when other Nigerians remind us that our people dominate the Nigerian Army and wonder why the area is so neglected.
When some prominent people from the Zone called for a Conference of the Nationalities of the area, I felt as high as mountain Everest. My happiness knew no bound when I saw the first publication in the Punch Newspaper of Tuesday, June 5, 2001; and naturally I searched for the name of my tribe. Under Benue State, I saw what I felt is Igede, the name of my tribe. I was startled and a little bit confused when “IGEDE” was written as “IGEDDE”. Aghast! Double “DD”?
The second embarrassment was that in the said first publication under reference, ethnic groups were written according to the numerical positions in their various states – at least by my observation. This was really the case, therefore, in Benue State, the expectation in line with the arrangement should have been as follows: TIV, IDOMA, IGEDE (not Igedde), Agatu, Akpa and Etulo. But unfortunately it was arranged as follows: Tiv, Idoma, Agatu, Igedde (sic), Akpa and Etulo. The use of double letter “dd” in Igede caused more embarrassment to me.
As if the above insults were not enough to embarrass us, the organisers in the second publication in the Punch Newspaper of Tuesday, July 24, 2001 which was the outcome of the Conference left the name of Igede totally out of the list.
I believe the omission of Igede was deliberate and not the reason that Igede did not send a delegate to the Conference. After all they claimed in the publication that “In total 520 representatives from 165 nationalities attended the Conference”. According to the first publication where the name of Igede appeared, there are 165 identified ethnic groups, and if they claimed that each ethnic group was actually represented in the Conference, then there must have been a representative of Igede.
If the organisers could take their time to write the names of 55 ethnic groups in Adamawa State in both publications, I wonder why in Benue where they claimed to have existed only six ethnic groups in the first publication could not in the subsequent list be taken care of.
We should mind the fact that while the Yoruba own the urban areas of their land, Igede is in the majority in the rural areas of all the States in the South West. To say there are over ten million Igede people doing farm work in the rural areas of Yoruba land is a true statement that requires no proof. That is why if you go to any community in Yoruba land, and claim to have come from Benue State, you are referred to or called Igede. Any doubting Thomas can visit any village or ask any Yoruba friend of his to confirm the truth or otherwise of this claim.
Within Benue state, Igedes have occupied the following Local Governments: Oju, Obi, part of Gwer West, Konshisha and Vandeikya. Igede constitutes the majority of Yala Local Government of Cross River State.
But for our shyness from politics, we Igedes could have been making impact in every democratic dispensation in this country. In the present administration for instance, an Igede is the Deputy Governor of Benue State. We should not forget in a hurry that till 1997, an Igede was the Ochi’ Idoma - that is the First Class Chief of the Idoma people.
We Igede people welcome the organisation and effusively thank the founders. We, however, advise that the founders should be more circumspect in their approach. Any organisation emerged from the Middle Belt should not give room for tribal domination. I recommend instead equal opportunity, and equal rights. Any attempt to jettison Igede will rather make us to rise. No person or group of persons can succeed in exterminating our existence.
Furthermore, our advice is that if there will be no divisions, if there will be no factions as we do now witness in other Zones, let us allow justice, equity and fairness to propel the Middle Belt Forum or any organization emerging from the Zone. Sincerely, Igede people deserve public apology from the conveners of the Conference
J. Ijuo Okpe
Ijuo Okpe
Published in both the Sunday Punch and Sunday Champion Newspapers of September 23, 2001.
Ijuo Okpe has been championing Igede course since his teenage years when he was in Secondary school. One of his letters about the deplorable Awajir-Oju road was published in the defunct National Concord Newspaper when he was in Form 3 in 1980s. This is not to say, he is crying or asking for recognition, rather he enjoys persecutions. His cry now is that College of Education, Oju should be upgraded to University College – one of the reasons he formed Igede National Congress; and he wrote good articles about this in the past. Then he wants electrification of Ukpute Ainu Ete, his place of birth: his prayer is that God should spare his life until all these are realized in his life time.
Sunday Punch, September 23, 2001, Page 16
Sunday Champion, September 23, 2001, Page 5
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