Abuja natives ask Buhari to appoint an FCT indigene as minister

Natives of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, have described President Muhammadu Buhari’s failure to include any of them in the 43-man ministerial list sent to the National Assembly for screening and confirmation as provocative.

In a statement jointly signed by Danladi Jeji and other members on behalf of several indigenous groups in the territory and released in Abuja on Tuesday, July 23, 2019, the FCT natives described the continued exclusion of the people as an affront on their citizenship within the Nigerian federation.

They urged the National Assembly to democratize the system of governance in the capital territory by stripping itself of its powers as State Assembly for FCT and also stripping the President of his powers as Governor of FCT.

FCT natives are unhappy with President Buhari. AFP

“We find the non-inclusion of any FCT native on the 43-man ministerial list released by President Buhari on Tuesday as provocative," the statement said.

"Are we not citizens of Nigeria? Why have we been continuously left out of having a representative in the federal executive council? If the list was extended from the usual 36 to 42 and now 43 ministerial nominees. Shouldn’t we have a slot? Why do some states have more than one or two slots?"

The FCT groups mandated the federal lawmakers to raise the issue of the exclusion of Abuja natives from the ministerial list on the floors of the Senate and House of Representatives.

“We will no longer take lightly the continued marginalization of FCT natives in a territory hosting the capital city of Nigeria. Our lands have been taken forcefully from us without the federal government following proper constitutional provisions or the Land Use Act and now our dignity is being taken away from us as Nigerian citizens. We condemn this attitude by the Nigerian government and urge the international community to intervene in our current statelessness,” the FCT group said.

Seeking urgent constitutional reforms to correct the lacuna and discretionary interpretation of Sections 299 – 302 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the Abuja natives tasked the National Assembly to democratize governance in FCT by allowing for the establishment of a State House of Assembly, an Executive office for the administration of FCT (Governor/Mayor howsoever called), and increase the number of Senatorial districts, House of Representatives constituencies and more Area Councils.

President, Original Inhabitants Development Association of Abuja (OIDA), Danladi Jeji ece-auto-gen

“We are asking the President to relinquish his powers as Governor of FCT and the National Assembly to also relinquish its powers as the House of Assembly for the FCT to the original inhabitants and residents of the Territory so that they can freely elect those to govern them directly rather than the indirect rule presently obtainable in the military contraption presently obtainable in the FCT,” Jeji said.

The natives said they would have no choice than to seek recourse to the United Nations in light of the "pervasive oppression" of FCT original inhabitants in their ancestral homelands to assert their universal right in a formal petition to the United Nations General Assembly.

They accused the Federal Government of making them stateless and depriving them of the benefits of citizenship in the Nigerian federation.

Meanwhile, some natives of the FCT have decried the influx of members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria into the capital city.

They have also condemned the violent clashes between the Police and members of the group.