Indigenous people of the FCT under the umbrella of the Coalition of FCT Indigenous Associations (COIA) have rejected the nomination by the Senate of the immediate former Deputy Governor of Kogi State, Edward Onojah, as a commissioner in the Public Complaints Commission (PCC) representing the territory.
Addressing a press conference yesterday, the spokesman of COIA, Comrade Abdullahi Suleiman Ango, said the move was wrong after seeing the released list of nominees for public complaints commissioners as announced by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, without a nominee from the FCT, while Kogi had two nominees.
He said the natives found it necessary and imperative to complain because they had been denied so many constitutional provisions, noting that it was only in Nigeria that an FCT was having one senator and two House of Representatives members, while states had three and more than two representatives each.
He said such action by the Senate indicated that the natives of the FCT had been seriously trampled upon after peacefully allowing the siting of the FCT in Abuja.
He further said, “We the FCT natives are calling that the only seat (PCC commissionership) that is meant for us constitutionally should be reversed and given back to us.”
He noted that the last person that was appointed as PCC commissioner of the FCT, Ezekiel Musa Dalhatu, was an indigene, adding that he performed incredibly well.
He said, “In fact, based on our findings on awards given to public servants, he was ranked to be the best among commissioners that the commission ever produced.”
He, therefore, called on the Senate to as a matter of urgency reverse the nomination and give it to another competent person that was an indigene of the FCT.
He further said, “And based on our findings, the office of the PCC commissioner is renewable. So, there is nothing wrong in reappointing Ezekiel Musa Dalhatu for another four years.”
The natives, however, distanced themselves from the planned nationwide protest, saying there must be some sinister motives behind such a protest, even as they asked the Senate to reverse the PCC commissioner nomination for the FCT within 48 hours or face a protest over the non-nomination of an FCT indigene.
He added that, “We are talking today as a coalition; that within 48 hours if this nomination is not reversed, we have no reason to stay behind, not to embark on a protest, over what rightfully belongs to us as Nigerians and natives of the FCT.”
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