[OPINION] University of Agriculture Makurdi should be renamed after J.S. Tarka

The House of Representatives last Wednesday passed through Second Reading a Bill Seeking to Rename the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi after an illustrious son of Benue and a renowned pre and post-independence Nigerian politician, Late Dr. Joseph Sarwuan Tarka.

The bill was sponsored by Hon. John Dyegh, representing Gboko/ Tarka Federal Constituency of Benue State. It is disheartening that in spite of his enormous contributions to nation building, Tarka has not been immortalised by the federal government 36 years after his death.

Who is J.S. Tarka and why should the Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi be renamed after him? Born in 1932, Tarka was an unusual politician with an uncommon vision and undying love for his people and patriotism for country.

A founding leader of the defunct United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC), one-time minister under the regime of Gen. Yakubu Gowon, he was also a senator in the Second Republic and a foremost advocate for the rights of the minorities in Nigeria.

Unlike the negative divisions being propagated by Nigerians today by political, ethnic and religious leaders, Tarka’s vision for one indivisible, united and prosperous Nigeria was never in doubt.

If only our politicians and leaders would exude the tolerance and love Tarka had for Nigerians outside his ethnic group or part of the country, the mutual suspicion that exists today among Nigerians would have been history.

It is a well-known fact that Tarka “imported” Alhaji Ibrahim Imam from Borno to contest and win a parliamentary seat in Benue.

Alhaji Ibrahim Imam was the leader of Borno Youth Movement (BYM) which was also a political party. Due to the threat the BYM posed to the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) in the then Borno Province, it was proscribed because if it were allowed to feature in elections, prominent Borno politicians such as Sir Kashim Ibrahim who was the governor of northern Nigeria would have lost their constituencies.

But Ibrahim, who had been a member of the Northern House of Assembly on the platform of the BYM, needed a constituency to return to the house.

Being a true democrat and a man of peace, a man who believes in the unity of the country, J.S Tarka went to Maiduguri and smuggled Alhaji Imam to Gboko, where he offered him a seat to represent Jemgbagh Constituency in the present Gboko, Tarka and Buruku local governments in Benue State. Imam won the seat by land slide and returned to the Northern House of Assembly.

Tarka did not stop there, in the appointments of Principal Officers in the House, he chose Ibrahim Imam ahead of kinsmen and his old political allies such as Hon. Isaac Shaahu and Hon Ugba Uye.

Once again, Tarka displayed his love for unity when he was stepping aside to face trial for treasonable felony alongside Chief Obafemi Awolowo; unlike some of our tribal and ethnocentric leaders, he did not choose a Tiv man or even a northerner to stand in as the head of the UMBC.

He picked Chief Morphy from Ogoja as the leader of the party as against Hon. Isaac Shaahu, Mr. Macdonald Zugwenen Iorkyaa, Chief J.S. Olawoyin or Chief Gaius Gilama.

Apart from these, there were uncountable instances where Tarka sought relentlessly to unite Nigerians through various alliances. For example, as soon as he became the leader of the UMBC in 1957, he allied with other ethnic groups to form a mega party that would work to achieve Nigeria’s independence and fight for the 1959 elections that would form the first post-independence government in 1960.

Tarka went into alliance with the Action Group which was led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo and consequently swept the Middle Belt at the polls winning all the seats in Benue, Plateau, parts of Bauchi, Taraba, Adamawa, Borno, as well as parts of Niger and kwara.

Unfortunately, these seats including that of the Action Group which won what is now South-West, Edo and Delta states which are now South- South were not enough to defeat the NPC, which had enough seats to form the federal government under the leadership of Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. Undaunted, Tarka contracted an alliance with the NCNC which was led by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe in preparation for the1964 federal elections.

The presence of J.S Tarka in this alliance also drew the minorities of the then eastern Nigeria into NCNC under such leaders like Chief I.I. Morphy from Ogoja, Dr. Okoi Arikpo from the Calabar area, Dr. Waniko Briggs and Chief Harold Dappabiriye of the present Rivers State.

Again this alliance could not surmount enough to defeat the NPC and Tarka extended his coast reaching out to Mallam Aminu Kano of Northern Elements Progressive Union to form the UMBC/ NEPU alliance.

This alliance was, however, truncated with the military coup of 1966. Tarka contributed immensely to the development of the country locally and nationally, thereby laying a solid foundation for some of our leaders today such as Senator George Akume who has also traversed the political landscape of Benue, North central and Nigeria as a colossus.

Akume, a direct descendant of the J.S Tarka dynasty is known amongst other achievements to have single handedly brought ACN (APC) to Benue and facilitated the dislodgement of PDP in all North Central states except Plateau.

A humble, focused and conscientious leader, Tarka was a master strategist with a knack for human capital development.

He surely deserved to be honoured. Renaming the university after him is not out of place and very deserving of his exploits and legacies. J.S. Tarka is indeed worthy of immortalisation.