The Middle Belt Dialogue (MBD), a group representing the ethnic nationalities in the Middle Belt, said although President Goodluck Jonathan failed the zone during his first term in office, they would support him instead of the Muhammadu Buhari, the Presidential candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to the group, Buhari is not a better alternative because as a life patron of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), he had never for once called suspected Fulani herdsmen who have been committing a lot of atrocities in the area, to order.
“Fulani herdsmen…had been rampaging through the Middle Belt, dispossessing our people of their land, defiling women and killing without compunction,” said MBD.
Following its strategic summit, Monday, in Jos, the Plateau State capital, a communiqué by the MBD stated that its people would still support the Jonathan administration in the February 14 election although, “not blindly,” as their support “must be clearly articulated and negotiated with the President.”
Delegates from community and faith-based organisations, youth and women organisations from Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, FCT, Gombe, Kaduna, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Taraba, and Yobe were present at the meeting.