Download Free The Middle Belt In Nigerian Politics Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online The Middle Belt In Nigerian Politics and write the review.

A study of relations between Christians and Muslims in Africa, especially Nigeria and Tanzania and the effect of religions on many aspects of life and government.
The European partition of Africa at the end of the nineteenth century produced enduring geo-political changes, with various ethnic groups permanently separated into different political formations. Borgu was just one of the affected areas, dived by the French and British in 1894 and 1898. Now independent after years of British rule, the Nigerian Borgu is here examined in thorough detail, from earliest times to now. The book focuses on the new emergence of a political identity in the Borgu, as well as its dynasties, economic growth and relations with the Yoruba.
Moses E. Ochonu explores a rare system of colonialism in Middle Belt Nigeria, where the British outsourced the business of the empire to Hausa-Fulani subcolonials because they considered the area too uncivilized for Indirect Rule. Ochonu reveals that the outsiders ruled with an iron fist and imagined themselves as bearers of Muslim civilization rather than carriers of the white man's burden. Stressing that this type of Indirect Rule violated its primary rationale, Colonialism by Proxy traces contemporary violent struggles to the legacy of the dynamics of power and the charged atmosphere of religious difference.
The phrase ''Middle Belt'', evokes contradictory emotions among Nigerians, especially those from the former Northern Protectorate. There are those who see it as affront on the sanctity of Northern Unity and of course, there are those who see it as a demonstration of the struggle of freedom from oppression.However, both those for the Middle Belt and those against it, always demonstrate some profound ignorance of it. There appears to be a general lack of clarity of what it means; which groups are part of it; whether it is a geographical entity or is just an ideology and concept. Even among its proponents, there have been very heated debate on who should be part of the Middle Belt and who should not.My Possibility and objective in this book, is to provide clarity to both the proponents and opponents to enable more useful engagement. It is obvious that most of the ethnic groups of Nigeria are in the area called the Middle Belt and, these groups are by no means homogenous.The first chapter, lifted from the first edition of Northern Nigerian In Perspective (NNIP) lists the ethnic groups. Of course, some of the languages have disappeared and many more are on the path of disappearance. The second chapter quotes the different and sometimes, contradictory definition of the Middle Belt.Excerpts from the Willink Commission report are reproduced here. The Commission was established by the British colonial authorities to investigate the fear of minority ethnic groups. The Interviews that follow, especially, those of Bello Ijumu., Jonah Asadugu further explain the frustration of the ethnic Nationalities during the Colonial era.There are people in the Middle Belt areas who do not agree with the concept of the Middle Belt. Alhaji Yahaya Kwande (Goemai) and Ahmadu Jalingo (Mumuye) belong to this group. Case Studies Atyap, (Harrison Bungun) Kilba (Free Nation Magazine) Sayawa (Dr Bukata) are also reproduced.
Nigeria¿s future as a unified state is in jeopardy. Those who make or execute U.S. policy will find it difficult to advance U.S. interests in Africa without an understanding of the pressures that tear and bind Nigeria. Despite this, the centrifugal forces that tear at the country and the centripetal forces that have kept it whole are not well understood and rarely examined. After establishing Nigeria¿s importance to the United State as a cohesive and functioning state, this monograph examines the historic, religious, cultural, political, physical, demographic, and economic factors that will determine Nigeria¿s fate. It identifies the specific fault lines along which Nigeria may divide. It concludes with practical policy recommendations for the United States to support Nigerians in their efforts to maintain a functioning and integrated state, and, by so doing, advance U.S. interests.
An introduction to the politics and society of post-colonial Nigeria, highlighting the key themes of ethnicity, democracy, and development.
The democratic opening presented by Nigeria's successful transition to civil rule (June 1998 to May 1999) unleashed a host of hitherto repressed or dormant political forces. Unfortunately, it has become increasingly difficult to differentiate between genuine demands by these forces on the state and outright criminality and mayhem. Post-transition Nigeria is experiencing the proliferation of ethnic militia movements purportedly representing, and seeking to protect, their ethnic interests in a country, which appears incapable of providing the basic welfare needs of its citizens.It is against the background of collective disenchantment with the Nigerian state, and the resurgence of ethnic identity politics that this research interrogates the growing challenge posed by ethnic militias to the Nigerian democracy project. The central thesis is that the over-centralization of power in Nigeria 's federal practice and the failure of post-transitional politics in genuinely addressing the "National Question," has resulted in the emergence of ethnic militias as a specific response to state incapacity. The short- and long-term threats posed by this development to Nigeria 's fragile democracy are real, and justify the call for a National Conference that will comprehensively address the demands of the ethnic nationalities.
The overthrow in January 1966 of Nigeria’s First Republic erased what had been regarded as perhaps the most promising prospect for liberal democracy in post-colonial Africa. Marking the sweeping failure of parliamentary institutions across a continent of new nations, it accelerated the slide into a ghastly civil war. Class, Ethnicity and Democracy is the first scholarly study to analyze the evolution, decay, and failure of Nigeria’s First Republic and to weigh this crucial experience against theories of the conditions for stable democratic government. Rejecting explanations that focus on political culture, political institutions, or ethnic competition and conflict, Larry Diamond identifies the root of Nigeria’s democratic failure in the interrelationship between class, ethnic and state structures. This led the emergent dominant class in each region to mobilize and exploit ethnicity and to trample the democratic process in furious competition for state control, since that control was the primary means for accumulating wealth and consolidating class dominance. Tracing the polarization of conflict and the erosion of legitimacy through five major crises, Diamond presents a new methodology for analyzing the persistence and failure of democracies and points to the relationship between state and society as a crucial determinant of the possibility for liberal democracy.