Natives of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the auspices of Abuja Original Inhabitants and Youth Empowerment Organization (AOIYEO) have commended the MacArthur Foundation and CHRICED for their support in fighting the cause of the natives and implementation of projects for them.
The executive director of AOIYEO, Ambassador Isaac David, who gave the commendation at a press briefing on Sunday, said that both international organisations have ensured that the plights of the FCT natives were not left unattended to through their immeasurable support.
David also debunked claims made by a former project officer of AOIYEO that he initiated and oversaw some of the laudable projects undertaken by the organisation, saying that there was a need to set the record straight and to let the public know the truth about the matter.
“It is very imperative and expedient to shed light on some of the claims made by our former project officer on OI- PEDIA, FCT-YN, and Abuja charter of demands among others, to set the record straight and at the same time avail unsuspected public the opportunity to know the truth about it.
“AOIYEO has been in operations for some years and equally doing well before the employment of our former project officer which was necessitated by my appointment as special assistant to the FCT Minister on Youth Matters over a year ago.
“To avoid a clash of interest due to my appointment by Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello, someone was needed to continue with our plans and programmes which made us recruit the former project director of our organisation.
“Therefore our templates of how we run things with a schedule of duty and others were handed over to him. So, it is self-aggrandisement for him to now lay claims to those programmes which had been on our table to be his ideas.
“Therefore, to set the record straight Abuja OIPedia, FCT- Youth Network, FCT charter of Demands, Abuja Native Authority, and the Know Ask and Follow (KAF) was never the intellectual property of anybody than that of AOIYEO which was initiated and supported by MacArthur and CHRICED,” he stated.
