In a fiery, nearly 6-minute video, Plateau indigene and Christian Gyan Joseph Mancha has called out his fellow Christians from the state for rejecting their Northern identity, warning that denial won’t change constitutional reality.
According to Mancha, “Truthfully, some of us have a problem, especially we Christians. I swear, I’m sorry to say this, but we have a lot of work to do. We need to open our eyes; we need to learn. For God’s sake, why is it that when I come out and say Plateau is in Northern Nigeria, you get up and start arguing with me in my DMs; or you come and insult me in the DMs, or you leave insulting comments?”
He pointed to former Governor Simon Lalong’s role as proof: “Where were you when Lalong was the Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum? Was he the Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum as a governor of the Middle-Belt? Do you think that position was given to someone they didn’t want?”
Mancha dismissed claims that admitting to being Northern equates to religious conversion, quering: “When asked: ‘why you aren’t Northerners, you reply: ‘No; if you say you are a Northerner, people will think you are a Muslim’. Just by being called a Northerner, does that mean you’ve converted to Islam? Is that the only problem you have?”
He argued that isolation has fueled the stereotype. “Why do you think people say Northerners are Muslims? Is it not because you have isolated yourselves for a very long period? You don’t contribute to matters that affect the North. You don’t go on Facebook to speak up; you back out, you don’t show interest in things that affect the North, because you believe you are not part of the North.”.
While admitting he also wants the Middle-Belt, Mancha insisted facts come first: “I understand that we are clamouring for the Middle-Belt; I also want the Middle-Belt. But until we are given the Middle-Belt, I am a Northerner. And whatever happens to Northern Nigeria affects me. Until now, I swear, you are in trouble if you don’t realize that”.
He urged Christians to own their identity to counter false narratives, saying: “What you are supposed to do is identify as being from the North, so that when that rhetoric starts—that everyone in Northern Nigeria is a Muslim—you say, ‘No, I am in Northern Nigeria, but I am not a Muslim.’ There are people in Northern Nigeria who are not Muslims”.
Mancha warned against insulting the North while claiming Middle-Belt status. “But you sit down, with those from the East and the South, and you insult Northern Nigeria because you think you are ‘Middle-Belt’? No, brother; you are insulting your own home, because that is where you belong… If you cross over to the East or the South, they will just accept you? Your home is your home, and religion is a matter of the heart”.
He ended with a call for peaceful co-existence, rejecting religious extremism. “If I say I am a Northerner, I still have my identity. I am a Birom man; I am in Hausaland, a region called Hausa land. I am there, but I am a Birom man, and I am a Christian. Acknowledging the fact does not mean that I am not what I am… Christians, practice your Christianity; Muslims, practice your Islam. Let no one spoil the country, going around giving us opinions that are not ours – terrorism, extremism – all in the name of religion”.
