Chief Joseph Adeniyi Aderibigbe, the last of the secretarial redoubts who helped Sir Ahmadu Bello hold together the defunct Northern Region, died on October 22. According to a statement signed by Malam Rafiu Ajakaye, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Kwara State, Chief Aderibigbe ‘died in Ilorin on Wednesday morning, aged 104 years, according to his son Barrister Debo Aderibigbe.’
I first met the man in June 2000 while reporting for Weekly Trust on the renewed agitations for a Middle Belt identity among Christian minorities in Northern Nigeria. As a Yoruba Christian from Erin-Ile, the last town in Northern Nigeria before crossing into the West, who had served as Provincial Secretary (the equivalent of a governor) of Sokoto Province (covering present-day Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, and most of Niger states) and later Kano Province (today’s Kano and Jigawa states), I was eager to learn how he perceived these movements and how he defined his own identity.
In my February 2, 2019 column titled ‘Even Ahmadu Bello Would Be Ashamed of Buhari’s Arewacentricity,’ where I recounted a few intriguing anecdotes he shared with me about Ahmadu Bello and his years as Provincial Secretary of Sokoto, I initially assumed he had died and therefore described him as ‘the late Joseph Aderibigbe.’
When I interviewed him in Ilorin in June 2000, he already looked quite old. My editor later called to ask if I was certain he was deceased. My search turned up no evidence that he had died, but none that he was alive, either. Choosing to err on the side of caution, I removed ‘the late’ from his name. As it turned out, he lived for six more years.
After Ahmadu Bello’s assassination during the January 1966 coup, his tenure as Provincial Secretary of Kano, his final regionwide appointment, came to an end. When General Yakubu Gowon’s military government later abolished Nigeria’s four regions (North, West, Mid-West, and East) and replaced them with states in May 1967, one of the new entities was the West Central State. This state comprised the present-day Kwara and Kogi states, along with the portion of Borgu that was transferred to Niger State in 1991.
Following impassioned protests from the Northern establishment, the name was subsequently changed to Kwara State.
Chief Aderibigbe became the first secretary of the newly created West Central State (later Kwara State) and served in that capacity until 1975. Having the opportunity to interview him more than twenty-five years ago remains one of the most memorable honors of my career. He was gracious, intelligent, and remarkably sharp-witted.
In honor of his passing, I reproduce below the interview he granted me, originally published in the Weekly Trust on June 28, 2000, and retrieved from the archives of AllAfrica.com.
Kperogi: You served the Northern regional government at different levels during the First Republic when the sentiment of ‘one North, one people’ was aflame. Today some people in the Middle Belt say they don’t want to be referred to as Northerners. What is your comment on this development?
Aderibigbe: It’s not a new development. In the First Republic, we had the UMBC [United Middle Belt Congress], which wanted a new region from the North. It was led by [David] Lot. So, there had always been people who felt agitated about certain things in the North, and who felt that the answer was to carve the Middle Belt out of Northern Nigeria so that they could have self-determination. There were also people who were naturally averse to Fulani domination, not because they were not having their ways but because they didn’t just like what they called Fulani domination. They might relate that to the history of the Jihad – what their experience was at that material time. But little did they think of the various changes that had since taken place, which would make them get involved in the new development, instead of reflecting on old sentiments. With the creation of new states in 1967 by Gowon, this eased out. The Middle Belt got more than it was even bargaining for.
Kperogi: You’ve been around in politics enough to know the history and politics of the Middle Belt movement. From your experience, do you think Kwara State, where you come from, fits into the conception of Middle Belt?
Aderibigbe: From the geography of it, it was in the Middle Belt, although the northern North did not regard Kwara as Middle Belt. It treated Kwara like other emirates in the region and treated the Middle Belt as a separate identity. So, Kwara was more of an emirate North than a Middle Belt North. Where there were Middle Belt agitations were places like Benue, Plateau and Kabba provinces where the emirate system was not operated. These places formed the core of what was political Middle Belt. But geographical Middle Belt spread beyond those three provinces. It spread to Yola, Niger, some parts of Kebbi, Kwara, and so on.
Kperogi: Now, certain people appear to be promoting conflict between the Northern and Middle Belt identities. What would you call yourself? A Northerner or a Middle Belter?
Aderibigbe: Middle Belt was part of the North. A Middle Belter in the past was as much a Northerner as a Katsina man, a Sokoto man, a Bauchi man. It only distinguished him from his Southern counterparts and associated him with his Northern counterparts. We are Northerners. Still, we are part of the geographical Middle Belt. There is no running away from that reality. It depends on the sense in which you want me to define our belonging. It’s a matter of semantics. Middle Belt is part of the North. There is no doubt about that. If you are thinking of Middle Belt in terms of people who don’t practise the emirate system, we practise the emirate system here, and we differ slightly from Benue, Plateau and Kabba provinces.
Kperogi: You are from Kwara State which you said geographically belongs to the Middle Belt. If you are invited to the Middle Belt Forum, will you attend?
Aderibigbe: I will, but the constitution does not recognise it. So, it is unconstitutional. If I am thinking of it from the constitutional point of view, I may not want to attend.
Kperogi: You worked very closely with the late Sardauna. What, in your opinion, are the reasons that gave rise to the fears of the minorities in the North? What created the basis for their desire for a Middle Belt region?
Aderibigbe: Left to Sardauna’s administration, there was no solid basis [for a Middle Belt region]. People who were qualified were installed in positions of importance, irrespective of tribe and religion. But, you see, governments were formed on political bases. You could not be a minister or a chairman of a board if you were not a member of the political party in power. Those who claimed to be marginalised were people who did not belong to the party in power.
People accused Sardauna of Islamic fanaticism. I disagree with that view. He was a devout Muslim. Yes, he had to be. As the great-great grandson of Usman Danfodio who brought Islam to this part of the world, he had to be. [Editorial note: Dan Fodio didn’t bring Islam; he only reformed it in Hausaland. Islam existed in many parts of Nigeria centuries before Dan Fodio was born.] But he was not fanatical. If he was, he would not have employed people like us to strategic and sensitive positions in the North. Silas Daniyan, Sunday Awoniyi, myself and others were Yoruba Christians from the periphery of the North but we were given sensitive security positions to man. We enjoyed higher privileges than our Southern counterparts with whom we had graduated from the university. We were not discriminated against on the basis of our religion or tribe. I was the provincial secretary of Sokoto province! That was the equivalent of a governor.
Kperogi: There is this other age-long contest for the possession of Kwara State between the North and the West. As a Yoruba Christian from Erin-Ile, the last town in Kwara State before getting to Oyo State, what is your position on where Kwara should be?
Aderibigbe: If we want to keep Nigeria together, we should not live on the basis of ethnicity. The fact that a majority of Kwarans are Yoruba does not necessarily mean that Kwara should be part of the South-West. What is the essence of merging with the South-West? It does not make the position or the status of Yoruba better if they go South-West than being in the North. It is a sentimental agitation! It has no economic or moral or political basis. Kwara had been NPC (Northern People’s Congress) and had been aligned with parties from the North for many years. A majority of people in Kwara don’t want to go to the West. In any case, when they go there, how will they fit into the place? What do we stand to gain going to the South-West? What are we losing by remaining in the North?