By Abdul Aji
The Igala Cultural and Development Association (ICDA), the umbrella body of all Igala social cultural associations, has lent its voice to the call by the Coalition of Indigenous Middle Belt Organisations (CIMO) for the restructuring and enactment of the Peoples Constitution for the country.
The President of ICDA, Surgeon Commodore Ahmed Abdullahi (rtd), made the disclosure at the maiden conference of CIMO held between 30th and 31th August,2024 in Kaduna.
The ICDA President and the Secretary General, Alhaji Rufai Yahaya who were in attendance, noted that the Organisation stands for equity, fairness and justice has to join forces with CIMO which also shares similar objectives of being a voice for the people of the Middle Belt of Nigeria.
He said the conference with the theme: “Restructuring and Enactment of the Peoples Constitution, Panacea to Peace and Good Growth of the nation,” did not come at a better time than now as the country is going through social, economic and security challenges which need pathways for peace, and good development of the nation.
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Abdullahi added that the ICDA fully supports the views canvassed at the summit and urged the federal government to scale up the process that will fast tract restructuring and enactment of people oriented constitution in line with 2014 National Constitution conference.
He commended the organisers of the conference for their ingenuity in bringing together people of indigenous Middle belt to discuss and proffer solutions to their age-long challenges.
The ICDA President added that the ICDA and her affiliate associations lend their support for the progress and growth of the CIMO which is aimed at unifying the people of middle belt to get what rightly belongs to them.
“The call for restructuring of the country is more pressing now than ever, primarily due to the significant growth and diversity of the ethnic composition of the Middle Belt, whose population is estimated at 44 million as at June 2024.
“The Middlebelt has since independence been seen and called part of Northern Nigeria with the split of many ethnic nationalities into states, as minorities. This has weakened the ability of such ethnic nationalities in achieving political representation and economic empowerment and development.
“Consequently, this has tended to create inferiority complex, and creation of second-class status and peasantisation of the people as a result of laws and statues that tend to limit and imprison the capacity of citizens of such ethnic nationalities from achieving set goals and aspirations” Dr. Abdullahi disclosed.
Meanwhile, the President of CIMO, Timothy Barau Gandu, commended ICDA for her quick response to the summit and their invaluable contributions which has enriched the coalition for a just society.
Gandu specifically praised the ICDA president for attending the summit with his Secretary and urged him never to relent on issues that affects the unity, growth and development of the region.
Recall that the conference drew participants from ethnic nationalities of Adamawa, Kogi, Benue, Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau and Taraba States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, with the Middle Belt Forum (MBF) tacitly supported the CIMBO conference.
