Middle Belt Forum

In an August 2002 interview following civil unrest in the middle belt, Dan Suleiman partially blamed the far north leaders for encouraging the violence.^[5] In May 2003, Vice President Atiku Abubakar met with leaders of the MBF led by Dan Suleiman. He described the people of the region as "patriotic, supportive and selfless Nigerians who have sacrificed much more than the people of other regions in holding this country together". He cautioned the forum leaders to resist infiltrators wanting to cause disunity and instability in the country.^[6]

Following another of the recurrent crises in Plateau State, in March 2010, the President of the MBF, Pius Atta called for the name of the North-Central Zone to be replaced with Middle Belt Zone.^[7]

In March 2005, leaders of the forum called for a restructuring of the zonal set-up in Nigeria from the present six zones to eight.^[8] In January 2008, a delegation from the Middle Belt Forum led by MDF president Isaac Shaahu asked former Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State to take over the leadership of the Middle Belt Governor's Forum, a related group.^[9] In November 2009, the chairman of the forum, Wilberforce Juta, proposed a constitutional amendment where each state in Nigeria would take full control of its resources, paying a 75% tax to the Federal Government. He claimed that this federalist approach would be fairer and more efficient than the proposed 10% stake in the deregulated oil industry.^[10]

In December 2009, at a time when northern-origin President Umaru Yar'Adua was medically incapacitated, Isaac Shaahu said the Middle Belt would not support Northern attempts to force southern-origin Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan to resign, but also said he saw no reason why Yar'Adua should not continue in office although sick.^[11] However, in January 2010, Shaahu said that the problem could be solved within the constitution if Yar'Adua were to transmit a letter to the National Assembly directing them to transfer power to the Vice President.^[12]