Barr. John Apollos Maton
It is sadly not surprising that Dr. Davidson Rotshak Lar was killed. His boldness in speaking truth to power exposed the well-oiled Fulani imperialist machine that has for decades been strategically using Nigeria’s resources to entrench domination at all costs. He laid bare the very heart of the matter: there is no “North” as a unified identity—there is only a Fulani political construct cleverly disguised in regional language to maintain a parasitic grip on power.
The term “North” in Nigerian discourse is a tool of political deceit. It is time Nigerians consciously substitute the word “North” with “Fulani” whenever they hear phrases like “Northern Governors Forum,” “Northern Elders Forum,” or “Northern Consensus.” These platforms do not reflect the aspirations or representation of the Middle Belt, nor the indigenous Hausa, Nupe, Jukun, Gbagyi, Birom, Tiv, or other ethnic nationalities. They are hijacked Fulani platforms designed to silence and exploit the rest.
From today, call these associations what they truly are: “Fulani Governors Forum,” “Fulani Elders Forum,” or “Fulani Consensus.”
History supports this claim. When Obasanjo, a Southern president, appointed non-Fulani Northerners into sensitive positions, the Sultan of Sokoto and Fulani elite responded with outrage, claiming that “the North” was being marginalized. But when pressed, they clarified that non-Fulanis are not considered “Northerners.” That singular incident should have awakened the nation to the ethnic apartheid system hidden behind the “Arewa” banner.
This false northern identity was consolidated in 1979 when the NPN primaries clearly produced Maitama Sule, a Hausa man, only for Fulani elites to reject him in a midnight coup within their own party and impose Shehu Shagari, a Fulani. That tells you all you need to know: even among Muslims from the so-called North, only Fulanis are considered authentic enough to lead “the North.”
The Middle Belt must reject the name “North-Central.” That term is part of the trickery to keep indigenous people as political footnotes. The proper name is Middle Belt or Central Nigeria. Our ancestors did not fight, bleed, and preserve their land just to be reduced to appendages of a Fulani empire. Indigenous people must rise in identity and in name to reject mental slavery.
The idea of “One North” is a myth. It is time to expose the criminally manipulative lie of “One Destiny, One People.” From Aminu Kano to Balarabe Musa to modern-day victims of political exclusion in Kaduna and Plateau, it is evident that non-Fulani voices—even when Muslim—are not welcome in the so-called Northern consensus unless they submit to Fulani dominance.
Even when the 1963 People’s Constitution allowed regional autonomy, the Fulani elite began working to weaken it. The military coups that followed—many of them orchestrated by Fulani officers—were not just power grabs, but deliberate steps to erase the political, cultural, and land rights of the indigenous people across Northern Nigeria and beyond.
The war against Biafra was a war fought not by Fulani, but by Middle Belt sons misled into believing they were defending the North. They were actually used to secure Fulani control over Nigeria. When their usefulness ended, they were sidelined—Gowon removed, Danjuma neutralized, and Fulani supremacy restored with Murtala Mohammed and his successors.
The legacy of that manipulation persists today in the imbalance in the military, where Fulani control most sensitive posts despite being an illegal immigrant minority in the country. The federal character principle has been mutilated beyond recognition. Promotions are now ethno-religious favors, not based on competence or loyalty to the Nigerian state.
Ahmadu Bello’s statement in The Parrot newspaper of 1960 is perhaps the most chilling confession of Fulani imperial ambition. His vision was not of a Nigeria for all Nigerians, but of a Fulani inheritance to be expanded by using indigenous people as conquered vassals and southerners as pawns. That is not a federation; that is feudalism.
We must therefore insist on a return to the 1963 Constitution, which respected regional autonomy, indigenous land rights, and true federalism. That Constitution allowed each region to develop on its own terms. It protected local cultures, languages, and governance systems—before it was overthrown in a series of Fulani-favored coups.
Every community must begin to awaken to the danger of being identified under the “North.” It is not a region; it is an agenda. It is not a direction; it is a political weapon. The so-called Northern political power block is a Fulani construct and must be recognized as such by indigenous communities seeking to reclaim their future.
The Middle Belt has a distinct identity—culturally, spiritually, politically, and historically. We are not Arabs, and we are not the children of Uthman Dan Fodio. We are the children of the Plateau, the Benue valley, the Mandara hills, and the ancestral highlands that predate every emirate in Nigeria.
Even the language manipulation reveals the deceit. “Arewa” is a Hausa word. The Fulani used it instead of any Fulfulde term to create a false sense of commonality with the Hausa, while slowly replacing Hausa leaders with Fulani emirs, governors, and senators. Hausa people must realize they too are victims, not allies, of Fulani supremacists.
This identity war is not just political, it is also spiritual and psychological. When indigenous Christians from the Middle Belt are labeled “Kafiri” or “Arne,” it is not merely name-calling—it is a justification for violence, for land-grabbing, for political exclusion. The language of hate fuels the violence in Plateau, Southern Kaduna, and parts of Benue today.
We must reject the hijacked institutions of the so-called North and form indigenous forums that represent our interests alone. There should be a Middle Belt Governors Forum, a Central Elders Forum, and a Council of Indigenous Ethnic Nationalities. Let the Hausa and other Indigenes also kick away from this propaganda and then force the Fulanis to show us their North, show us where Fulaniland is—and let us rebuild our ancestral heritage without their chains.
The indigenous peoples of Nigeria—Middle Belt, South-South, Igbo, Yoruba, and others—must form alliances based on justice, equality, and mutual respect. The Fulani have built a pan-Nigerian empire using deception, militarization, and economic control. It is time to dismantle it through legal, constitutional, and civic awakening.
Restructuring Nigeria is not a threat to unity—it is the only path to real peace. Only when each people can govern themselves, protect their land, and choose their leaders without external imposition can Nigeria thrive. The fake unity built on Fulani domination will keep bleeding until truth sets us free.
The blood of Dr. Rotshak Lar and countless others will not be in vain if we rise to tell the truth and act on it. There is no North. There is a Fulani political machine that must be confronted. We must go back to the foundation—the 1963 Constitution—and build a new nation where all ethnic nationalities have equal standing, and indigenous rights are sacred.