Natives and residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have launched a platform tagged “Mandate FCT 23”, to advance the cause of the people, stop marginalisation of natives and ensure that the people benefit from dividends of democracy.
The convener of the group, Mr Danjuma Tanko Dara, who made this known in a press conference after the launch of the platform, said the time has come for FCT natives and residents to take their destiny into their hands and ensure that the prolonged marginalisation of the people comes to an end.
He said that the reason for the formation of the organisation, is to change the narrative of governance in the territory and ensure that the people enjoy dividends of democracy as the country transits from one democratically elected government to another in 2023.
“We formed this platform for the advancement of residents of FCT Abuja called ‘ MANDATE FCT 23; to unite the residents and indigenous people of Abuja, for all of us to come together and ensure that democratic structures are put in place in Abuja.
“We have observed that lots of damages are worked out against the old residual since the inception of Nigeria’s democracy. To the extent that somebody that does not reside in Abuja or votes in Abuja will be appointed as Minister of the FCT overnight by the president.
“At the end of it, he controls the revenues accruing to the FCT unchecked and unquestioned. The person also claims and controls the management of all our ancestral land, a development result of which he takes advantage to seize and develop community lands in the name of FCT.
“In doing all these injustices, the affected people are not compensated, while the administrations continue to demolish the houses of Nigerians who struggle and worked hard to earn the money to build those houses, and the administration takes over their land and develops it for strangers,” he said.
He also said that the Mandate FCT 23 platform would address the continued marginalisation of natives of FCT, saying the federal government had done nothing to stem the tide.
“As we have always said, it is one of the many contradictions of the Nigerian situation that the natives, whose lands were parceled out under Decree 6 of 1976 to make room for Nigeria’s capital city, are being neglected and treated as second-class citizens, right in their ancestral homelands.
“It is very painful that the natives who made enormous sacrifices to give Nigeria its center of unity have been rendered stateless and left to wallow in despair and regret while being faced with prolonged marginalisation from the government,” he noted.
Dara said the move would also push for democratically elected leaders to govern the FCT, lamenting that unlike other Nigerian citizens in various states who have the right to vote for a governor and a State House of Assembly, the FCT original inhabitants do not have such a right.
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