JOS—The ethnic nationalities in the Middle Belt under the aegis of the Middle Belt Dialogue, MBD, have said that although President Goodluck Jonathan failed the zone during his first term in office, they would support him instead of the Presidential candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, General Muhammadu Buhari, rtd.

Jonathan

They said that Jonathan failed the Middle Belt which supported him massively in 2011, but regretted that Buhari was 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 to order, suspected ‘’Fulani herdsmen who had been rampaging through the Middle Belt, dispossessing our people of their land, raping women and killing without compunction.”

In a communiqué at the end of its strategic summit Monday in Jos, the Plateau State capital, the MBD stated that its people would still support the Jonathan administration in the February 14 election although, ‘’not blindly,’’ as their ‘’such support must be clearly articulated and negotiated with the President.’’

The summit was attended by 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 as well as notable community and opinion leaders.