The Middle Belt Ethnic Youth Leaders Assembly (MBEYLA) has read with deep concern the article titled “Is Tinubu Waging a Quiet War on the Muslim North?” authored by Mohammed Bello Doka and widely promoted by former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. The piece is not only misleading but a calculated attempt to engineer ethnic and religious tension while deliberately erasing the progress that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has brought to the Middle Belt.
MBEYLA considers it hypocritical and intellectually dishonest that individuals who have consistently sidelined, undermined, and excluded the Middle Belt suddenly claim to speak for “Northern interests.” When it is time to mobilize votes, the Middle Belt magically becomes part of the 19 Northern states; but when appointments, inclusion, or recognition are involved, we are nowhere to be found in their narrative. This is the very pattern that El-Rufai is attempting to sustain.
EL-RUFAI’S RECORD: A HISTORY OF EXCLUSION MASQUERADING AS NORTHERN UNITY
For the avoidance of doubt, MBEYLA wishes to remind the public of a few facts conveniently omitted from Doka’s and El-Rufai’s propaganda:
- El-Rufai introduced the first Muslim–Muslim governorship ticket in Kaduna State.
In the history of Kaduna politics, no governor before him ever dropped a Christian deputy. El-Rufai did. He replaced a Christian Deputy Governor with a Muslim woman, unilaterally altering the delicate religious balance of the state. Was that “inclusive governance”? Was that “complimentary to Christian minorities”? Was that not marginalization in its crudest form?
Yet today, the same El-Rufai is preaching a sermon on “religious exclusion.” The hypocrisy is shameful.
- El-Rufai championed the Muslim–Muslim ticket that brought President Tinubu to power.
He campaigned aggressively for it. He defended it. He marketed it at home and abroad. But now that he failed Senate screening and was not appointed Minister, he has suddenly discovered “Northern persecution.”
This sudden outrage is not about religion, the North, or justice. It is about El-Rufai’s personal disappointment.
- If El-Rufai were a serving Minister today, would he be promoting this dangerous narrative?
The answer is obvious. If he were in the current government, he would be singing hymns of loyalty, not stoking religious and regional division. His pattern is simple: If El-Rufai is not at the center, then the North does not exist. This self-centered brand of politics is not only deceptive but destabilizing.
TINUUBU HAS GIVEN THE MIDDLE BELT RECOGNITION LONG DENIED BY PREVIOUS GOVERNMENTS
MBEYLA rejects the insinuation that Northern Muslims are being displaced. What is happening is simple: For the first time in years, the Middle Belt is being acknowledged. Prominent sons and daughters of the Middle Belt have received appointments, visibility, and recognition that past administrations denied them. Those who once monopolized federal appointments are uncomfortable because the culture of entitlement is fading.
It is convenient for El-Rufai and his allies to pretend that these appointments do not exist, because recognizing them would expose the selfishness behind their narrative.
President Tinubu is not fighting the North. He is simply refusing to treat the Middle Belt as an appendage. We will not allow anyone, no matter how influential, to erase this progress.
THE MIDDLE BELT WILL NOT BE USED FOR ANYONE’S POLITICAL GAMES
MBEYLA wishes to state in clear and unambiguous terms:
The Middle Belt is not under El-Rufai’s political jurisdiction.
The Middle Belt is not a pawn in any Arewa power calculations.
The Middle Belt rejects any attempt to drag us into a manufactured religious war.
The Middle Belt refuses to be silenced, erased, or manipulated for political bitterness.
El-Rufai is not clever by half. Nigerians can see through the desperation, the bitterness, and the selective outrage.
OUR POSITION
The Middle Belt Ethnic Youth Leaders Assembly (MBEYLA) stands firmly by the truth:
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has recognized the Middle Belt, restored our dignity, and given our region a renewed sense of belonging.
We will not allow political merchants of division to twist this reality.
The Middle Belt has survived centuries of manipulation. We will not tolerate it again.
Signed:
Amb. Miri Timnan Nyantau (M.T.N)
Acting President General, MBEYLA
National President, Tarok Progressive Youth Association (TAPYA)
Umbrella Body of Tarok Youth Worldwide
