Renaming geo-political zones to erase north and south conscious divide By Polycarp Onwubiko

Recently the aberrant Northern States Governors Forum NSGF, held a meeting with a proclamation that the Fulani ethnic group was not responsible for the serial audacity and unrestrained hedonistic and terroristic rampages in the north-central [middle belt] geo-political zone and entire southern parts of the country. Why the word “aberrant” is used is that the country has accepted the bifurcation of the country into six geo-political zones for administrative convenience. Consequently, the return of civilian administration in 1999 led the state governors to form associations based on the geo-political zones.
In the southern part of the country, there are “South-East”, “South-South”, and “South-west” Governors’ forum respectively. Curiously, the “scions of the feudal caliphate” did not allow the governors of the three geo-political zones in the northern part of the country to form their respective Governors Forum. Instead, they as usual, indulged in monstrous illegality by compelling the governors to form the aberrant NSGF; instead of “North-East Governors Forum, “North-West Governors Forum” and “North-Central Governors Forum”. The apparent reason behind the brazen spite of the nationally accepted six geo-political zone , is the age-long sad observations that laws made in this apparently accursed country are faithfully obeyed by the southerners while the northerners [northern Moslems especially] conduct themselves as if they are above the laws; and do whatever they liked and go scot-free.
 The northern Moslems are hell-bent on carrying out the time-honouredcovert agenda of using the ethnic groups in the Middle Belt viz: Plateau, Benue, Kogi, Kwara and Taraba states as “willing tools” to perpetuate self-serving, parochial and anti-federalism laws, policies and programmes which make non-sence of federal system of governmentbequeathed by the founding fathers of Nigrian nationalism. Anti-federal policies, programmes and projects are passed into laws in the National Assembly; even as the same were inserted in the pseudo federalism Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which was fabricated by the aberrant military regimes and being panel-beaten in the National Assembly.
Few months ago the chairman of the aberrant NSGF announced that the state governments in the NSGF will contribute funds for the rebuilding of the north-east being devastated by the Islamic fundamentalist insurgents, Boko Haram. The chairman no doubt justified his position on the apparent collective amnesia of Nigerians. In other words henaively assumed that people no longer remember the origin of Boko Haram. Of course it was the northern Moslems that nurtured the dog that they have become unable to rein in as “power had returned to the north”. The hordes of hell insist on establishing an Islamic Caliphate in the north-east as they refused to be appeased.
The fact remains that it is the sole responsibility of the northern Moslems to rebuild the devastated north-east; not the federal government talk-less of the innocent people of the middle belt.As Christians they never went into the unholy alliance to destabilize the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration by “vowing to make it ungovernable if power is not returned to the north” after the unfortunate demise of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. It is the height of perfidy for the arrow heads of the NSGF to say that it was not the Fulani herdsmen that have been wreaking havoc in the middle belt and south-east at Uzouwani, Enugu state. Sadly the indigenes of Agatu are languishing in refugee camps while the soldiers were not directed to sack the herdsmen for the people to go back to their homes and erect canopies as the herdsmen razed  houses and public institutions; the soldiers are to protect herdsmen from apparent reprisal attack-one Nigeria indeed!
I don’t think that the governors of the north-central geo-political zone [middle belt] attended the NSGF meeting because they must have realized the inanity of being members of Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF and NSGF. If the scale has failed from their eyes, they should stop their membership of the two pro-Islam organizations and form theirs’-North-Central Governors Forum NCGF, so as to stop being acting like the mentally deranged medieval slaves and eunuchs.
The essence of creating 12 states in 1967 by the military regime of General Yakubu Gowon [and replicated by subsequent military regimes] was to allay the genuine fears of ethno-religious domination and brazen intimidation by the feudal caliphate in the first republic due to the disproportional land mass created by the compromised colonial masters, which made the northern region to have land mass far above the rest of other three regions. State creations was to enable ethnic groups to exercise a measure of freedom and even plan for regional integration in the envisaged and inevitable return to True Federalism practiced in the first republic but was truncated by the northern Moslems as it would debar them from directly and indirectly controlling the entire country’s governance.
It amounts to taking other Nigerians for granted for the northern Moslems to brazenly ignore the formation of Governors forum based on the geo-political zones as obtained in the southern part of the country. In fact there is nothing like the “Monolithic North” since Gowon created the states; more so when the country has been divided into six geo-political zones. Why the audacity to force the Governors of the North-Central zone not to form “North-Central Governors Forum” NCGF?
These brazen gimmicks were tailored to be using the governors and members of the National Assembly of the ethnic groups in the north central zone to be railroading anti-federal laws, policies and programmes to sustain pseudo federalism or ‘centralized federal government’. During the 2014 National Conference geared towards reinventing True Federalism and possible con-federation as the only panacea to enable the diverse ethnic groups to let out their latent creativity, mutual competitions and developing at their respective paces as was done in the first republic, the feudal caliphate hurriedly summoned the NSGF and directed them to warn the members of their states in the Confab to immediately with-draw their support for state police which was promptly carried out. There is no doubt that suicide squad is put in place to deal with the middle belt people if the deign to with-draw from ACF and NSGF or stop aligning with them in anti-federal proposals in the National Assembly and sundry political reform conferences.
The APC-led federal government should never be seen as belonging solely to the northern Moslems as President Muhammadu Buhari’s crucial appointments have depicted. It has therefore become imperative to re-designate the six geo-political zones without mentioning “North” and “South” so as to erase the consciousness of the age-long divide. For instance the present names could be changed respectively thus: “Delta geo-political zone”, “Igbo geo-political zone”, Oduduwa geo-political zone”, Middle Belt geo-political zone”, Sokoto geo-political zone,” and Bornu geo-political zone”.
It is very unfortunate that Plateau and Benue ethnic groups chose to timorously succumbto age-long exploitative tendencies of the northern Moslems. It high time the people in Middle-Belt broke from the so-called Northern Unity of ACF and NSGF as they constitute monstrous aberration to true federalism.
Mr. Onwubiko is an author and public affairs analyst, wrote via [email protected],Awka, Anambra state.