The Middle-Belt Agitation and Religious Politics: Myth or Reality

Abstract

The Middle-Belt and religious politics is not a new phenomenon on the Nigerian political landscape. The paper tries to prove the point that the Middle-Belt movement started as a response by the Christian minority/ethnic groups to perceived religious domination by the Hausa-Fulani Muslims of Northern Nigeria. Their response resulted to the formation of the Northern non-Muslim Association, United Middle-Belt Congress andthe politico-religious organization, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). Both the elite and the constructivist theory were used as theoretical bases to explain the phenomenon, where the elite theory views the agitation by the movement as elitists driven, the constructivist theory views it as contrived by the colonialists and the early educated elites with the support of colonial Christian missionaries. Data was largely generatedfrom secondary source. The paper recommends amongst other things that government at all levels must ensure that they turned the country into a land of opportunities where everybody can engage in whatever lawful trade or job that they desire as well as aspire to get to any position they want as long as they are qualified without looking at where they come from or any primordial sentiment. It concludes by saying that the Middle-Belt agitation for a region of its own has remained a mirage since it started. It has only existed in the imagination of its advocates, the Middle-Belt politicians, but its potency has continued to influence our political existence in the north and the country at large.