Natives of Abuja under the auspices of the Original Inhabitants Association of Abuja (OIDA) have appealed to President Bola Tinubu that since he has nominated a minister from among them, the next step is for him to hand the ministerial nominee, Zaphanial Jisalo the FCT Minister portfolio.
The natives said that in case it is not feasible by President Tinubu’s calculation, it should be rotated to other geopolitical zones this time around, but that the natives of Abuja should have the ‘Right of First Refusal’ on the FCT Minister portfolio, saying the feat would put President Tinubu’s name in the annals of Nigeria’s political history as a true and undiluted progressive, a man of justice and fair play.
In a statement signed by the media adviser of the organisation, Sumner Shagari Sambo, OIDA president, Pastor Danladi Jeji, on behalf of the natives commended President Tinubu for breaking the jinx by historically appointing an indigene of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as a ministerial nominee under a democratic dispensation.
According to the statement, the last time a ministerial nominee was appointed from among the FCT indigenes was under the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida who appointed Major General Abdullahi Bagudu Mamman as Minister of Internal Affairs between 1990-1991.
“President Bola Tinubu has by his action shown that he is a man who obeys the rule of law as the highest courts in Nigeria have in the last decade ruled that ‘FCT is a State’, and that FCT should immediately be granted a seat on the Federal Executive Council (FEC); but subsequent governm
ents refused to obey the court judgments, especially the immediate past government of former head of state Muhammadu Buhari,” he said.
Jeji urged President Tinubu to continue to be courageous in taking the right steps to heal the wounds of the nation by ensuring that historical injustices are corrected to further cement the building blocks of Nigerian society.
The Abuja original inhabitants group lamented how FCT natives have suffered severely at the hands of some past ministers who hardly took into cognisance the peculiarities of their people in policy formulation and overall governance.
“FCT natives have suffered enough in the hands of some previous ministers who brought nothing but inconsistent policies that ended up further marginalising our people, grabbing our lands, shortchanging us politically, and leaving the vast majority of our people to feed from hand-to-mouth in a land flowing with milk and honey where other Nigerians come in, only to emerge billionaires overnight due to corrupt land allocation processes with the aid of corrupt officials in the FCT bureaucracy.
“Only a handful of ministers performed well and the records are there for all to see. We need a tested and performing FCT Minister this time around and Hon. Zephaniah Jisalo fits the bill due to his previous performance in government”, the OIDA president added.
The natives while assuring President Tinubu of their full support as he governs Nigeria through these hard times also appealed to the new administration to ensure further democratisation of governance in the FCT by ensuring that FCT’s designation as a state is fully obeyed in line with the spirit and letters of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and as proclaimed by the courts.
“President Bola Tinubu and his legal team have consistently told the election court that ‘FCT is a State’, just as we the indigenes have been canvassing over the years as sanctioned by judicial pronouncements.
“We are fully with him on this and we would like him to go ahead and ensure that the FCT system of governance is further democratised in a format that allows us, the indigenes and Abuja residents to elect our own Governor and State House of Assembly Members.
“We, therefore plead with President Tinubu to handover his dual position as Governor of FCT and for the National Assembly to also handover their dual position as FCT House of Assembly to the FCT indigenes and residents to allow them to exercise their democratic rights like other Nigerians in states, going forward,” he said.
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