Statement by Barr Leonard D Nzado
Immense thanks, eminent Elder statesman for these encouraging words and support for the fundamental objectives and principles behind the formation of the Gongola People’s Forum.
This is a moment that calls for all true sons and daughters of the ethnic nationalities of this State to stand up to be counted. And what a resounding and overwhelming endorsement we received yesterday by the sheer presence of our numerous compatriots who attended the historic event. The knowledge that there are more of these passionate and committed people who could not make it to the event because of their schedules, assures one that this is a project whose time has not only come but has been long overdue. To our brothers who were complacent, skeptical or simply afraid of the move, we daresay that the resolve of our people is clear and unambiguous.
There is no retreat and no surrender in this pursuit. We therefore invite you to join your brothers who hail from the different ethnic nationalities, political parties and religious backgrounds in this State to take the struggle to its next level. It is unwise if not a total abandonment of the struggle for us to play the ostrich at this critical stage of our lives and development.
The critics have dubbed this event as divisive and retrogressive and have warned of dare consequences which will lead to the break down of peace, law and order as a natural corollary to this move. States like Kaduna, Zamfara, Kebi, Niger, Benue etc which are currently under siege by members of this ethnic nationality, are cited as examples of what could happen should we persist with our cause. We are not moved. If in the pursuit of freedom, justice, equality, parity, fairplay and equity, we are threatened with disruption and chaos, then all we can say is let it come.A time such as this comes in the lives of a people when they are under obligation to say enough is enough. Let justice be done even if the heavens fall.
The RIBADU SQUARE STATEMENT we made yesterday has nothing to do with personal relationships but collective the responsibilities of the different peoples who constitute this State for fairness, justice and equity among the diverse ethnic nationalities of the State. The grouse of the members of our ethnic nationalities is that the one group has not only marginalized the others in the past but continues to do so today. And when some of these things have happened, we haven’t heard the voices of the so-called open minded members of that group in protest about the divisive nature of the actions they took as we are hearing now. Were they therefore complicit or merely complacent to the actions of the group? What were some of these policies and actions?
1. What informed the change of name of Gongola State, a more generic and inclusive name for all the ethnic nationalities in the State to Adamawa State that is exclusive to one ethnic nationality in the face of opposition from these other groups?
2. What informed the change of name of Jimeta LGA to Yola South LGA ?
3. What informed the change of the name of the Federal University of Technology, Yola to Modibbo Adama University of Technology Yola again a wholly exclusive and one-sided nomenclature against the opposition of the other ethnic nationalities?
4. How come the Yola International Airport is also now being renamed the Modibbo Adama International Airport?
4. How come the Federal Medical Center Yola is now the Modibbo Adama University Teaching Hospital ?
5. How come this group organizes sectional and divisive groups and associations such as Tabital Pulaku for the whole of their cohorts in West Africa and beyond with their International Headquarters in Yola and with the Lamido of Adamawa as their Grand Patron?
6. Who among the members of the other ethnic nationalities was present when they held their meeting to launch the Tabital Pulaku Radio in 2017 to which people like Lamido Sanusi of Kano Emirate were invited and plans were hatched to massively attack our people in Numan and environs ?
7. How come in Yola alone we have the following Federal institutions: MAUTECH, MODIBBO ADAMA UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL, NIGERIAN LAW SCHOOL YOLA, FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION YOLA, NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY YOLA, FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC YOLA CAMPUS, ADAMAWA STATE POLYTECHNIC YOLA, COLLEGE FOR LEGAL STUDIES YOLA, FGGC YOLA, AIRFORCE SECONDARY YOLA etc while all the numerous ethnic nationalities in the Southern Zone combined have only the Adamawa State College of Education Ganye and a skeleton of a Campus of the Adamawa State Polytechnic in Numan?
8. How come that until recent times all Ambassadorial and Ministerial appointments were the exclusive reserve of people from that ethnic group ?
9. How come that as we are talking, this group still imposes itself on most of these other ethnic nationalities through the traditional system of administration forced on us by the Colonial government that makes their leaders superior to these unconquered groups who are thus rendered subservient to them?
10. How come that among the Yandang people of Mayo Belwa LGA, a member of that group whose forebears have been Village Heads of only 1 out of 12 Village Heads in Bajama District is claiming that the traditional system of administration in Bajama District is for members of his family alone to be the District Heads over the Yandang people ?
11. How come that during the administration of Admiral Murtala Nyako, this group imported their brothers from outside and resettled them in parts of the land belonging to these other ethnic nationalities, a clear case of land grabbing and an intentional attempt to change the demographics of the State ?
We can go on and on about these acts of injustice and maginalisation crying loud for redress. If people of goodwill among this group cannot see these and protest the actions as divisive, then they should not try to stop us when we take our future into our hands to fight the oppressors.We definitely are not fighting the individual men of conscience and goodwill from among this group. However, they alone are competent to determine if they fall under this classification.
Again it bears repetition that the coming together of these ethnic nationalities is not targeted at individuals who are conscious of the need for justice, equality, fairplay and inclusivity in their actions in relation to other groups but at those who perpetrate oppression, injustice, inequity, unfairness and exclusivity. The evidence of their existence is overwhelming as highlighted above.
A time comes when the game is over and every player must return to his house and answer his father’s name. We the Gongola People’s Forum have chosen to do so by THE RIBADU SQUARE DECLARATION of 29th JUNE 2024.
