THE MIDDLE BELT IS NOT A POLITICAL ESTATE: A FORCEFUL REJECTION OF SELF APPOINTED REPRESENTATIVES AND MANUFACTURED ENDORSEMENTS

THE MIDDLE BELT IS NOT A POLITICAL ESTATE: A FORCEFUL REJECTION OF SELF APPOINTED REPRESENTATIVES AND MANUFACTURED ENDORSEMENTS ...

THE MIDDLE BELT IS NOT A POLITICAL ESTATE: A FORCEFUL REJECTION OF SELF APPOINTED REPRESENTATIVES AND MANUFACTURED ENDORSEMENTS

The recent political pilgrimage to the Presidential Villa by Gen. TY. Danjuma and a delegation of individuals parading themselves as leaders and representatives of the Middle Belt raises fundamental questions about political legitimacy, democratic accountability and the audacity with which certain individuals arrogate to themselves the authority to speak for millions of people.

Let me be unequivocally clear: WHO GAVE THESE PEOPLE THE MANDATE TO SPEAK FOR THE MIDDLE BELT?

By what democratic process were they selected? Which constituency elected them? Which traditional institutions endorsed them? Which community organisations, religious authorities, youth movements and ordinary citizens collectively authorised them to negotiate or communicate the political aspirations of an entire geopolitical constituency?

A gathering of politically influential personalities does not constitute a referendum. A photograph at the Presidential Villa does not confer a democratic mandate. Neither proximity to power nor the privilege of accessing the President automatically translates into the authority to represent millions of Nigerians.

The Middle Belt is not a private political enterprise, an inheritance belonging to a handful of officeholders, or an exclusive preserve of individuals whose political relevance depends on their proximity to the corridors of power.

Let us interrogate the political architecture behind this visit.

There are legitimate grounds to question whether certain serving governors and political actors from the region, particularly those with ambitions of securing another tenure in 2027, are instrumentalising respected personalities to advance their own political calculations.

It is particularly troubling when the prestige and historical standing of an elder statesman become the most prominent selling point of a political engagement whose broader representational legitimacy remains questionable.

I have profound respect for Gen. TY. Danjuma. His place in Nigeria’s history and his stature as an elder statesman are not matters I intend to trivialise. However, respect for an individual must never become an intellectual embargo against legitimate public scrutiny. Nobody irrespective of age, military history, wealth or national prominence, should be placed beyond reasonable questions concerning the political implications of their public engagements.

Indeed, it is precisely because Gen. TY. Danjuma commands considerable respect that those associating themselves with his political engagements must be prepared to explain the substance, composition and legitimacy of the delegation.

We must not confuse the prestige of a distinguished personality with the democratic legitimacy of the people surrounding him.

The fundamental problem is not that they visited the President. it is the apparent presumption that their visit should be interpreted as the political position of an entire region.

Who are they speaking for? The ordinary citizens struggling under the weight of economic hardship? The communities devastated by insecurity? The unemployed graduates? The farmers whose livelihoods are threatened? The young people whose future has become increasingly uncertain? Or are they principally advancing the political interests of an establishment that hopes to preserve its relevance beyond 2027?

If they represent themselves, let them speak for themselves. If they represent their political associates, let them identify those interests honestly. But they must never attempt to constitutionalise their personal political preferences into the collective will of millions of people.

There is a profound difference between political influence and popular legitimacy. There is also a fundamental distinction between possessing access to the President and possessing the authority to speak for the people.

These distinctions must not be deliberately obscured for political convenience.

THE NORTH IS NOT A POLITICAL APPENDAGE OF ANY ADMINISTRATION

Let nobody mistake our respect for political elders for political submission. Let nobody interpret our patience as political ignorance. And let nobody assume that the North can be politically manoeuvred through carefully orchestrated endorsements by a select circle of political elites.

We are sufficiently conscious to assess governance independently, interrogate political performances and determine our electoral preferences without requiring permission from political godfathers or self-appointed regional spokespersons.

The political realities confronting our people are far too serious to be overshadowed by ceremonial visits, carefully choreographed photographs and politically convenient declarations of solidarity.

Nigerians are asking questions about insecurity, hunger, unemployment, inflation, poverty, economic exclusion and the diminishing purchasing power of ordinary citizens. These are the issues that deserve the attention of political leaders, not the preservation of personal political fortunes.

The presidency is not an inheritance, and the Nigerian electorate is not an electoral machinery to be activated whenever political elites require another mandate.

As far as we the northerners concerned, we do not support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s second term ambition. We reject the idea that political delegations, irrespective of their composition or the personalities leading them, can manufacture a national consensus where genuine public dissatisfaction exists.

Our political position must be determined by the realities of governance and the welfare of our people, not by the political convenience of a few individuals.

To those presenting themselves as the undisputed custodians of the Middle Belt’s political conscience, I have one final question: If you genuinely possess the mandate of your people, why should you be afraid of an open, inclusive and transparent process of consultation?

The people are not spectators in their own political destiny. They are the ultimate stakeholders, and their voices cannot legitimately be substituted by the ambitions of a political establishment.

Let history record this clearly: the Middle Belt is bigger than any delegation, the North is bigger than any political arrangement, and Nigeria is bigger than the ambitions of any individual or administration.

We shall not outsource our political judgement. We shall not surrender our democratic conscience. And we shall not endorse a second term merely because a handful of politically connected individuals have chosen to make a pilgrimage to the Presidential Villa.

Tinubu must go in 2027, Insha Allah.

May Almighty Allah grant Nigeria purposeful leadership, restore the dignity of our people and deliver our nation from the burden of failed political promises amin.

Pen✍🏾

Hon.Muttaka Balarabe Yakubu MBY