…echoes from the UN historic day
•The ‘Paint Abuja Red’ story
Thousands of indigenous peoples in the Federal Capital Territory on Wednesday marked the United Nations World Indigenous Day with fun-fare amidst demands for socio-political inclusion. Adewale Adeoye who attended the event reports:
Recognition
The drum beats were of the ancient times, churned out from ancestral tambourine, flute, hype, lire and guitar made from bamboo. Women and children, clad in primordial textile, danced like the rhythmical movement of millipedes to the music of their ancestors. Passers-by watched with a mix of excitement and curiosity. Masquerades of different types and custodians of the people’s spiritual powers graced the occasion.
On Wednesday, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, wore a new colour as thousands of indigenous peoples from across nine kingdoms all gathered at the Old Parade ground, in the Abuja city centre to mark the United Nations World Day of Indigenous Peoples.
This year’s event is more remarkable than those of the past. For the first time in about 40 years, the Abuja indigenous people have someone listed as a ministerial nominee, Mr Zaphaniah Jisalo. Apart from this milestone, one of the leaders of the original inhabitants, Musa Idris Mamude, told our correspondent that for the first time in their relationship with the Presidency, Tinubu, during the last Salah celebration, sent 20 bags of rice to each of the nine kingdoms plus cows.
“This shows recognition. It has never happened in the history of the FCT. No one cares about us. We have always been neglected”, he said with a charming smile indicating a sense of victory over some of the afflictions the people have suffered for generations.
He said the nomination of the Minister from one of them represents a fundamental change in policy formulation, adding that their hope is to see Jisalo emerge as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT). But another participant said the ruling party probably remembered the FCT indigenes because of the ongoing contention on the status of Abuja in the presidential electoral dispute
The original inhabitants of Abuja are the Gbayi, Ebira, Koro, Nupe, Bassa, Gwandara, Gade, Dibo, Bassa, Gwandara, Gade and Dibo among others. The indigenous people insist their homeland has been scorched by years of exploitation that has given rise to a sprawling Abuja city state to the decline of their own economic fortunes. They claim their land was taken by fiat with little or no compensation paid to them. They are worried that developments in Abuja through massive acquisition of land either by the Land Use Decree or by past military fiat had denied them access to biological resources, land rights while their ancient groves and ancestral worship places have been taken over to their spiritual peril. Politically, the people express deep concerns that they are never given the opportunity to vote for a state governor since they do not belong to any of the 36 states while the FCT is not a state, meaning that they do not have the constitutional right to vote for a state governor.
Paradigm shift
Earlier on Tuesday, on behalf of the indigenous peoples, a joint press conference had been addressed by Resource Centre for Human Rights & Civic Education (CHRICED), in collaboration with Journalists Network for Indigenous People, and Lawyers Network for Indigenous Peoples. Led by Zikirullahi Ibrahim, the group said it recognised the new efforts of Tinubu who had appointed an indigene of the FCT as ministerial nominee. The conference, supported by MacArthur Foundation, was attended by hundreds of participants from across Nigeria.
The group called on the President to ensure a paradigm shift in addressing historic injustice that face them since Abuja was created by the military in 1976, the Nigerian capital having been moved from Lagos.
Ibrahim said that given the achievements recorded in the course of the advocacy for the promotion and protection of the rights of FCT Original Inhabitants so far, there could be the temptation for stakeholders to rest on their oars.
“The ministerial slot is just one out of the several issues, which constitute the crux of the marginalization and exclusion of the indigenous peoples in the FCT”, he said.
According to him, there is the unresolved land question, which borders on the fairness and adequacy of compensation for the lands belonging to FCT Original Inhabitants, which are being taken over by government. “This is connected to the core principle of free, prior and informed consent as enunciated in Article 10 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which makes it explicit that indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories. No relocation shall take place without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned.
“Over the years, successive Nigerian governments have refused to adequately compensate or resettle the Abuja Original Inhabitants, whose lands were forcibly taken by Military Decree 6 of 1976.
“The Nigerian government has refused to respect and protect the rights of the Original Inhabitants of Abuja, despite solemn commitments to do so”.
Visit
A visit to the Abuja Original Inhabitants’ communities would reveal that they lack functional health and educational facilities, deplorable roads, potable water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities’
Also, there remains the fundamental question of political representation of FCT Original Inhabitants in the context of the wider need of a democratic sub-national, which will allow FCT Original Inhabitants cater for their social and economic interests. It remains an anomaly that while other Nigerians have the right to vote and elect Governors and members of the State Houses of Assembly, FCT Original Inhabitants are denied this same right. Added to this is the imbalance in the number of legislative seats provided for the indigenous peoples in the FCT.
As it stands, FCT remains in the incongruous and unacceptable situation of having only one Senate seat and two House of Reps seats, while other States, even those with less population than the FCT have three Senate seats and scores of House of Representatives seats.
Subsequently, the indigenous peoples in the FCT need sincere and far-reaching constitutional and legal reforms.
On many occasions, the original inhabitants have been pushed to the cliff edge, threatening to disturb the peace of Abuja in order to draw attention to their plight.
‘Paint Abuja Red’
Hameed Tabale, 60, said few years ago, he was one of the ring leaders of a group that had planned to ‘paint Abuja red.’
Their design was simple: block all the gateways to Abuja, including the airport road in a huge human shield that would throw the capital city into panic and turmoil. The plans were already in top gear few years ago, cleverly conceived and kept from the prying eyes of undercover security agents. The groups divided themselves into cells and each cell leader made to take traditional oath of secrecy and commitment to what was to be the biggest yet well-kept rally in Nigerian recent history.
The organisers planned to mobilise no fewer than two million indigenous peoples of Abuja who have been subjected to land dispossession, exclusion and misery following the relocation of the Nigerian capital from Lagos to Abuja by the military government in 1976.
“We wanted to take Nigerians by surprise. It was a carefully planned plot. Our plan was to block each entrance to Abuja consistently for one week”, Tabale told our correspondent during a chat on Wednesday.
For so long Abuja indigenous people have cried and wailed but their astonishing plight consistently fell on deaf ears. However, the plan to stir stormy wind in Abuja was put to rest following the intervention of human rights groups who brought hope in place of despair.
“They engaged us. They told us there are more gains in peaceful protests driven by international standards”, recalled Samuel Gida, one of the Gade youths who spoke to our correspondent referring to the efforts of the CHRICED led by Ibrahim. With the support of the group began the policy of constructive engagement with the Abuja indigenous peoples and their leaders.
Greater heights
The indigenous peoples are not resting on their oars. They have reached out to the United Nations, UN. In mid July this year, Ibrahim uplifted the indigenous people of Abuja to greater heights when he took their plight to the United Nations, UN.
The effort was supported by John D and Catherine T Mac Arthur Foundation. It was the 16th Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) for member states including Nigeria. The focal point of the Expert Mechanism is to provide the UN Human Rights Council with right approach to implementation of the rights of indigenous people to enhance development and reduce conflict.
This means the international community is now mandated to engage the Nigerian government on the status of misery that has been the lot of Abuja indigenous peoples.
Abuja indigenous peoples were part of the representatives from indigenous peoples from no fewer than 180 countries who were the cynosure of Swiss for most part of mid-July as they trudged under the summer mild sun, in their traditional rainbow of indigenous dresses from their hostels to the UN office in Palaise des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland, sometimes in rows to the admiration of thousands of onlookers. The summit is not only of importance to Abuja indigenous peoples, but also to Africa which is home to some 1, 000 indigenous peoples and whose territories currently host a string of conflict and wars that have led to the displacement of millions of people from their ancestral land.
“The summit in Switzerland opened the eyes of the world to the plight of Abuja indigenous peoples. It was an opportunity to bring their cries to the door steps of the UN”, Ibrahim said.
Other challenges listed by Abuja indigenous peoples are that they face erosion of values, language, spirituality, civilisation and traditional cultures linked to desperate exploitation of natural resources by state and international groups which often lead to dramatic changes in migration of peoples, new settlements and displacements.
In Abuja and other parts of Nigeria, issues affecting indigenous peoples, from attacks on farmers, seizure of ancestral land at gun point, violent assaults on communities, rape, exclusion and repression are real. “Taking the case to the UN is a new dimension. We expect practical actions from the UN on Abuja indigenous peoples. It may even include the appointment of UN Human Rights Rapporteur”, Secretary General of the Nigerian Human Rights Community, (NHRC), Taiwo Adeleye, who said his group wrote to the UN on behalf of the Abuja indigenous peoples, told our correspondent.
Speaking on the Switzerland event, Ibrahim said, “The event saw a significant representation of indigenous peoples in Nigeria and the various organisations that echo their voices from the deep, isolated valleys”. According to him, the Nigerian team drew the attention of the international community to the more than two million Original Inhabitants (OIs) of Abuja’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Nigeria, comprising of nine tribes and seventeen chiefdoms.
The CHRICED boss said the indigenous peoples in Abuja and in Nigeria face the challenges of landlessness, statelessness, and the extinction of their culture. He said if nothing is done to rectify the injustice done to them, their future is very bleak.
He said the threat of resistance is always present but that his group is mobilising the indigenous peoples for peaceful engagement adding that it is critical for ‘dialogue’to continue to as a key element in democracy and governance instead of the people taking the law into their hands.
Ibrahim stated that unlike other Nigerian citizens in various states who have the right to vote for a governor and a state House of Assembly, Abuja OIs are denied such political rights.
The original inhabitants, he said, “have done everything possible over time to bring attention to the obvious discrimination and injustices they face, but the Nigerian government has refused to listen”.
Ibrahim went on: “Even some landmark judgments of the Supreme Court in favor of them were never obeyed”.
He said for sustainable development in Abuja, the Federal Government needs to hearken to the hues, pains and cries of FCT original inhabitants before it becomes too late.
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