El Sir Jo Profile picture
Apr 5 16 tweets 4 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
Ok let’s X-ray Nasarawa state. Shall we?
Nasarawa state was created in 1996 by Gen Abacha.
As far as State creation is concerned, Nasarawa state is an aberration in the school of logic for so many reasons.
1. There was no real agitation by locals for a creation of the state. This is the foundation for the creation of almost all states in Nigeria today. The local population in Nasarawa state, at least till the creation of the state in 1996, never put up any serious agitation or
or demand for a State. If you have evidence of this- meetings, pressure groups, official petitions to the FG etc, please furnish me.

2. Most states drew from prominent features in their states to derive their names. From rivers to hills to valleys to special features of its
major inhabitants.
Based on this, you’d expect THE MADA to play a prominent role. Why?
- the most prominent feature in the state is the Mada/Eggon hills (Keffi/Maloney Hills will come 2nd)
-Most tribes are known as the Mada tribes (Eggon, Mada, Alago, Ninzo etc) and they had
in excess of 80% of the population at that time. Recent Hausa migration has diluted this a little but the Mada tribes are still undisputed majority.
There’s so much I can’t unpack in a thread. Agrrrr🤦🏾‍♂️😫
Well moving on…

Let’s talk about the Keffi Emirate.
This is the oldest
Emirate in Nasarawa state. Was formed in the early 19th century, when our kin in that area (Gwandara I think) were defeated in a Jihad led by Zanga something (I’ve forgotten 🤦🏾‍♂️). The Emirate was subservient to the Zaria Emirate. 1 of the Emirs fucked with the colonialists in the
early 20th century and had to run to Kano for protection. Well the Kano Emirate negotiated on his behalf and I think that’s where allegiance switched to Kano Emirate. So the Keffi Emirate was designated a place of exile for people from the Kano Emirate. After the creation of
Nasarawa state, the whole state became the exile location for the Kano Emirate. Now you know why Sanusi was banished to Nasarawa State in 2020 after being deposed😁
Just google ‘Emir Sanusi banished’
Are you not excited with this finding?
After the creation of the state, Keffi
was propped up to be the Capital so that it’s highest traditional ruler, the Emir, can head the traditional council. Problem was it’s proximity to Abuja. A capital there and the concomitant population explosion, in addition to the population explosion expected in Abuja that will
naturally rub off to that axis may be difficult to handle. Abuja is planned to the letter. Lagos dey learn work🤣😁. Akwanga was 2nd consideration but was dropped too. Despite it being the commercial nerve center of the proposed state, there was also some gist which I won’t go
into. Sha it was dropped too. Then comes Lafia which won.
It was actually like magic, coz if you think of it from strictly a Hausa perspective. A state of Nasara with a capital of Lafia is poetic 😁. Those wey no understand Hausa, I no go translate. Hausa is a fine language in
its own right.
So the question of head of traditional council had no answer because there was no 2nd or 1st class chief in that axis. All 3rd class.
Now I’m not sure if the Lafia Emirate existed on 3rd class level or it was non-existent. My history here is fuzzy. Well, with the
creation of the state, a Lafia Emirate was made 1st class and installed as the head of the traditional council.

So now let’s crystallize all we’ve learnt so far.
All basic principles that guided state creation like agitation, self determination of state name, capital etc was
suspended in the creation of a Nasarawa State, then the exile location of the Kano Emirate expanded from Keffi Emirate to the whole Nasarawa State after it’s creation.
It is only LOGICAL to conclude that the hands of the Hausa-Fulani, which controlled the FG that created the
state, created a sweet spot for their banished individuals.
If you have a superior logic backed up by facts like I have enumerated, please share.
So if a people, who were starved of their basic right of self determination when their geographical area was carved up and an identity
was slapped on it, decides that the identity does not represent who they are, does the question
‘the word Nasarawa is which language please?’ sound logical?

We are #MiddleBelt please.

Thank you.

Selah

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with El Sir Jo

El Sir Jo Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @j_esla

Apr 5
So yesterday, everyone north of #MiddleBelt was shouting North Central this, North Central that.
So I asked myself, what is this north central they are talking about?
SIMPLE ANSWER: Total BS

LONG ANSWER:
To understand this, we must go into history;
We start with the 1950s
1/
@patrickanum has pretty much explained when we started carving the #MiddleBelt IDENTITY.
See this too for more foundational knowledge.
2/
Now that we know these, let’s jump in.
In 1967, Gen Yakubu Gowon abolished the regional government system to create states. He created 12 states out of the 3 regions that existed.
Dr Alex Ekwueme, the first elected VP of Nigeria in 1979, noticed while in office, that in
3/
Read 21 tweets
Apr 4
We’re not doing it for anybody. Southerners getting to know is added bonus.
Lemme ask you, do you know any story of bravery from your tribe that can give you that kick you need when you’re down?
Like damn, I’m an offspring of so and so, I can surmount this, I’m not a weakling.
Chances are that you don’t know. This is the story of almost all of us #MiddleBelt people.
The Fulanis can kick themselves with Dan Fodio stories. Our dear incompetent president started his presidency with a charge from Dan Fodio. I’m sure Dan Fodio will be ashamed of him sef🤣
You can’t talk incompetence and Dan Fodio in the same sentence.
So what we are doing is bringing back the consciousness.
I read of my people and the colonialists, they didn’t come and carry them handicap. They fought and lost with honor. So why are some people carrying their
Read 4 tweets
Apr 4
Let’s X-ray 2023 elections in the north. It was largely peaceful, logistics problems was almost nonexistent. Where they existed, guess who reside there????
The #MiddleBelt people. From Borno to Kano to KD to Plateau to Abuja to Adamawa to Niger.
How can the whole of Kano election
logistics be fine except the small part in southern Kano that are traditionally home to #MiddleBelt people and the current Igbo migrants?
How can the distribution of PUs and Wards in KD be gerrymandered to favor Northern KD despite us proving that Southern KD should actually be
bigger?
It’s only #onenorth when it serves an agenda to bully other regions in Nigeria. After that, everyone bears his father’s name. Once your name is not sounding someway, you’re treated with disdain as the other regions that was bullied with your existence.
Now, we see
Read 4 tweets
Apr 4
Let me walk you through my paternal family a little. My grand dad was a traditionalist ALL through his life. Added Islam at some points (my dad’s name has ‘Allah’ in it), added Christianity too (not personally, but God help the member of his family that doesn’t go for morning
mass esp on Sundays, my dad went to CMS primary sch too). Still died a practicing traditionalist.
His 1st wife/my grand mum was a traditionalist, went to morning mass (as instructed), back to traditionalism, then my dad got her back to Christianity few years before she died.
His 2nd wife/my step grand mum, I just know she was Muslim till she died.
My dad’s immediate younger sister had a stint as a Muslim when she married her first husband. Not sure if she’s still fully a Muslim (her husband is Muslim and still named one of his son after my dad😁)
Read 7 tweets
Apr 4
How are you not getting my argument? If you don’t get it now, that’s it.
Kogi is a geographical area made up of so many nations in smaller geographical areas WITHIN the geographical area recognized by the Nigerian constitution. Yoruba nation is 1, which occupy the
Kogi West axis. So because the Nigerian constitution lumps them together with Igala nation in the same defined geographical area, will that now make them divorce their identity for the Kogi identity? If they do, fine. If they don’t, still fine. No one should force them to take
the Kogi Identity. Obviously they won’t start running wild to say they’re Yoruba not Kogi. They still say Kogi is their state of origin, but know who they are. Where they come from. Who knows, they may chart their destinies back to their original identity. This is not a problem
Read 4 tweets
Apr 4
This new #MiddleBelt awakening has got me reading in the past few days. It beats me how we lost our way in the mid to late 1970s.
Why did our people forget that we are WARRIORS.
We lost some battles but even in defeat, we held our heads high, adjusted to the new realities and
forged ahead. That is why we are scattered all over the Savannah. These adjustments sometimes meant forgetting our kin and starting afresh. Beyond the comfort our previous civilization offered. We thrives despite the challenges and today, I dare say, we are the LARGEST group with
a shared identity in Nigeria. This is a great tool we can use for the benefit of our people, for the good of the society and for the advancement of Humanity.
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(