That 15 out 17 ministers of the Federal Capital Territory have been northerners has almost made some Nigerians to forget the status, and reasons for its creation in 1976. Flowing from Islamic cleric Sheikh Ahmad Gumi’s recent outburst, GODWIN IJEDIOGOR aggregates the views of stakeholders who insist that every Nigerian has the right to hold sway in the country’s capital as prescribed by law.
If there were prior arguments regarding the status of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, they must have been in hushed tones, but the recent outburst by Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi that the city is part of northern Nigeria and must be administered by a Moslem has generated heated controversy among various ethnic groups in the country.
To Gumi and his co-travellers, President Bola Tinubu erred in appointing former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, as Minister of FCT, as he expected the president to act like most of his predecessors by appointing a northerner as the administrator of FCT.
Since February 1976 when the FCT was created, 15 out of the 17 substantive ministers have been northerners, except the first southerner and first minister of the FCT, the late Chief Mobolaji Ajose-Adeogun, and now Wike. Ajose-Adeogun was in office between 1976 and 1979.
Among other things, Gumi criticised Wike for holding a meeting with the Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Michael Freeman, in his office and demanded his removal from office. He also accused Tinubu of planning to turn Abuja into Tel Aviv, the capital of Israel, “where Muslims would be targeted and killed” because Wike received Freeman in his office.
Wike, while clarifying his October 3 meeting with Freeman, dismissed as baseless, insinuations that he expressed support for Israel against Palestine, stressing that he has no constitutional powers to determine Nigeria’s diplomatic relations with other countries, as that lies absolutely with the President and Commander-in-Chief. He, however, pointed out that the meeting was purely for agricultural partnership in the interest of FCT farmers.
Section 297, Sub-section 1 of the 1999 Constitution states: “There shall be a Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, the boundaries of which are as defined in Part II of the First Schedule to this Constitution,” with Sub-section 2 adding: “The ownership of all lands comprised in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja shall vest in the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.” Section 298 states: “The Federal Capital Territory, Abuja shall be the Capital of the Federation and seat of the government of the Federation.”
Wike had, upon assumption of office, told Abuja residents to prepare for tough decisions, be patient with the Federal Government, and assured that the tough decisions would be for the overall good of the country.
Gumi’s inciting statements, which did not go unnoticed, unlike in the past, have attracted condemnation from many parts of the country, with Nigerians reminding him that the FCT belongs to all Nigerians and, of course, no exclusive preserve of any region, ethnic group, or religion.
Indeed, Nigeria’s unity and peace came under threat in the past, though never like Gumi’s provocative outburst, as some Nigerians believe they are more Nigerian than others and so hold on to the entitlement mentality.
One of the first groups to condemn Gumi’s alleged entitlement mentality, which smacks of provocative outburst was the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), which in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Ken Robinson, described as irresponsible, absurd and subversive, Gumi’s comments, adding: “It is most unfortunate that at a time when every well-meaning Nigerian should be concerned about the stability, peace and unity of the country, the likes of Gumi are further stoking the embers of discord, intended to exacerbate tension in the country. It’s utterly despicable that a so-called cleric would fashion himself into a shameless promoter of parochialism and acrimony.
“We consider the call for the removal of Wike as Minister of FCT, and indeed, any other Niger Deltan, based on wild predispositions, as an indirect poke at the people of the Niger Delta region, and the South South geopolitical zone, in particular, to catechise our stake in the Nigerian State.
“Perhaps, it is necessary to underscore some unadorned facts Gumi is pretending to overlook; Abuja is the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria, and not a sectional capital. More so, it (FCT) was developed and continues to be developed with, mainly, the oil and gas resources of the Niger Delta region, where Wike comes from.”
The Middle Belt Forum (MBF), which also found Gumi’s views ludicrous, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Pogu Bitrus, condemned the cleric’s insinuation that it is wrong for a Christian to be appointed FCT minister, and that the FCT belongs to the North, and that the ministerial slot should be the exclusive preserve of the Muslim North.
MBF reminded Gumi that the FCT was originally inhabited by the Gbagyi people, who were dislodged from their ancestral lands to create the territory that he now lays claim to, stressing that his call for Wike’s sack was unfortunate and “reflective of a nebulous and subtle agenda aimed at enthroning a state religion on Nigeria.”
The Forum emphasised that every Nigerian, irrespective of religious, and ethnic affiliations should enjoy the right to be appointed into public office.
The group said: “Nigeria doesn’t belong to any particular tribe, nor does it belong to any particular religion,” but multi-ethnic and multi-religious, as recognised by the constitution; hence “anybody who brings up the argument and tries to impose themselves on others will not be accepted.
It insisted: “All these characters who think that they own Nigeria are just a bunch of liars because we abide by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which spells out who a Nigerian is. Nobody owns this country; we all are equal co-travellers in this country.”
On the seeming belief among some northerners that the FCT minister must be a northerner, as echoed by Gumi, Pogu described those peddling such thoughts as “political jokers,” insisting that the FCT was carved out to be the capital of Nigeria, and therefore all Nigerians have equal rights here.
“Before Abuja, there was Lagos as our federal capital. Before independence and immediately after independence, Lagos had a succession of two ministers of Lagos Affairs, both were northerners- Alhaji Musa Yar’Adua, father of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, and Muhammadu Ribadu, grandfather of the immediate past First Lady, Hajia Aisha Buhari.
“Leading the ground troops is Gumi. He and his army of angry purists are not happy with Wike’s presence as minister and with his ways in the FCT. Gumi and his supporters spoke on the ownership status of Abuja. He spoke on who was qualified to wield power there and who was not. Gumi said other things and it was from him that I learned that nepotism has a tribe and it is better in some than in others.
In a recent article titled, Between Wike and Gumi, who really owns Abuja? Lasisi Olagunju, stated among others: “I asked questions and I was told President Bola Tinubu’s choice of a southerner as FCT minister is heresy to the powers in the North. They think Abuja is the North’s property and a northerner must be in charge there in perpetuity.
“But shall we ask who really owns Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory? Gen. Murtala Muhammed, the Kano man who created it, asked and answered that question at the very beginning.”
In his February 3, 1976 broadcast announcing that area as our new federal capital, he said it would “belong to all Nigerians” of all tribes and tongues. The area is not within the control of any of the major ethnic groups in the country and having been created on such virgin lands, as suggested, it was to be for all Nigerians, a symbol of their oneness and unity.
The late head of state noted: “The federal territory will belong to all Nigerians. The few local inhabitants in the area who need to be moved out of the territory for planning purposes will be resettled outside the area in places of their choice at government expense.”
Until Tinubu appointed Wike, Abuja had been ruled as if it were the 20th northern state, thereby negating the idea behind its creation and making many ask why Nigeria built a new federal capital.
Olagunju, in the article, stated that the fate of Lagos as the capital city was finally decided by the Murtala-Obasanjo regime in February 1976, when on August 7, 1975, less than three months after taking over the government, Muhammed set up the Justice Akinola Aguda Panel to locate a suitable place as the federal capital.
Other members of the panel were Chief E. E. Nsefik, Dr. Tai Solarin, Prof. O. K. Ogan, Alhaji Muhammed Musa Isma, Chief Owen Fiebai, Dr. Ajato Candonu, and Col. (Monsignor) Pedro Martins.
The Muhammed regime accepted the recommendations and on February 5, 1976, promulgated Decree 6, giving legal backing to its white paper on the panel’s report.
Indeed, so much water has passed under the bridge since the creation of Abuja that Oba Olumuyiwa Akintola Aguda, one of the children of the a late jurist, and chair of the panel that recommended Abuja as the FCT, in an interview, in August this year, said his father, before his death, expressed disappointment with the implementation of the entire project, “because at a point in time, Abuja became more like the capital of the North than that of Nigeria. He wasn’t too happy with that before he died.
“Maybe because the people that had been appointed into offices in Abuja were northerners. The intention of those that came up with the idea of Abuja was that it would eventually become a real capital of the country.”
THEGUARDIAN
