Umar Labdo Muhammad. Photo: Umarlabdo.com
A Professor of Islamic Political Thoughts at Yusuf Maitama Sule University, Kano, Umar Muhammad has insisted that lands in the middle belt belong to the Fulanis.
Muhammad’s comments had raised dust with several persons faulting it.
However, he told Sun News that he still stands by his decision, saying that historical facts support this.
“Yes, I still stand by my position 100 percent. Like I said in an interview some time ago, this Upper Benue and Lower Benue, they used to be part of Bauchi,” he said.
“A large chunk of what is today’s North Central or what some people prefer to call Middle Belt today were actually territories belonging to Sokoto Caliphate.
“If you agree that Abuja used to be part of Sokoto until 1975 or 76 when Niger State was carved out of Sokoto, you begin to understand. Benue is part of Bauchi Emirate.”
As stated by him, “Before the colonial masters made their intrusion into Nigeria, those areas used to be administered by the emirate of Bauchi.
“Of course, there were no fully established authorities because of the nature of the times. There were raids and counter-raids, which unfortunately were being exploited by the colonialists and later by the colonial pupils.”