. Demands Activation of Special State Status for FCT Indigenous Peoples
While Nigerians across the 36 States are preparing to vote for governors on March 18, the plight of the Original Inhabitants of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) would have no choice but to sit back and watch, has been described as most unfair and unjust.
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A frontline civic group, the Resource Centre for Human Rights & Civic Education (CHRICED) has therefore berated the Federal Government over what it described as the political exclusion of the Original Inhabitants in the Federal Capital Territory.
The Explainer can confirm that the indigenous peoples and other residents of the Nigerian capital will not be participating in the governorship and state houses of assembly polls, come March 18, 2023.
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Human rights crusaders have described the situation as an unacceptable exclusion of the indigenous peoples who made the monumental sacrifice of losing their lands to make way for Nigeria’s center of unity.
Condemning what it alleged as the maltreatment of the Original Inhabitants, CHRICED in a statement signed by its Executive Director, Comrade Dr. Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi, lamented that the political rights of the indigenous peoples of the FCT have been brazenly denied by successive governments at the federal level.
He said: “When Nigerians go to the polls on March 18, 2023 to elect governors and members of their State Houses of Assembly, the Abuja Original Inhabitants and all residents of the FCT will painfully sit back and watch the rest of the country exercise this inalienable political right, which they are brazenly denied.”
CHRICED said despite forcefully taking over 9,000 square kilometers of land owned by the Abuja Original Inhabitants by virtue of Section 1 of Military Decree No.6 of 1976 (now Cap.503 of the Law of Federation, the people have been made to suffer double jeopardy.
CHRICED said over the last four decades, successive governments have failed to keep their pledges to compensate the Original Inhabitants. “By the stroke of Decree 6, the over 2 million Abuja Original Inhabitants were rendered homeless, stateless, landless, and forced to confront internal colonization and deprivation.
“Today, the Original Inhabitants are politically excluded, economically marginalized, and culturally emasculated. Many years of struggle by the Original Inhabitants to redress historical wrongs, to address the journey of deprivation, and a seemingly obliterated future have been stoutly rebuffed, and violently disregarded by successive governments in Nigeria.
The CHRICED Director made allusions to the provisions of Section 299 of the 1999 Constitution, which requires that the FCT should be treated as if it is a State.
“On March 13, 2020, the Supreme Court issued a decision with noteworthy pronouncement on the legal standing of FCT-Abuja in the case of Bakare vs. Ogundipe (2021) 5NWLR (pt. 1768) SC. 1., putting an end to any residual uncertainty or controversy.
The lead judgment was delivered by retired eminent jurist Olabode Vivour-Rhodes JSC, who stated that ‘on the status of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja,’ it is so clear that Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria, has the status of a State by virtue of the provisions of Section 299 of the Constitution.”
The CHRICED helmsman further slammed the Federal Government for refusing to enforce the judicial decisions. Rather, CHRICED noted that the government of President Muhammadu deemed the court decisions to be declaratory in nature and thus unenforceable.
“Furthermore, the necessary constitutional changes for the FCT to operationalize its Special State status have been repeatedly refused by the APC ruling party-dominated National Assembly during constitution review exercises.”
Comrade Zikirullahi observed that with the challenge created when some political interests failed to garner the constitutionally mandated 25 percent of all votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory, they have started claiming that the FCT is, in reality, Nigeria’s 37th state.
“It is disingenuous that a number of partisan actors, who now assert that the FCT is the 37th state, refused to accede to the demands of the Original Inhabitants over the years to give expression to the State status of the FCT, and to ensure that all the necessary paraphernalia are in place to practically confer such status on the territory.”
