The Senior Special Assistant on Special Duties to the Minister of the FCT, Hajiya Farida Odangi Suleiman, has lamented over the continuous unfair treatment of natives in the territory, saying they are at present facing extinction.
Hajiya Farida, while speaking at the first quarter town hall meeting of the natives under the aegis of the Original Inhabitants Youth Empowerment Organisation (AOIYEO) in Kuje Area Council on Sunday, noted that the natives’ human rights had been tampered with due to lack of absolute representation at the National Assembly.
She said, “The truth is that we have been grossly marginalised, abused and our human rights have been tampered with. We do not have absolute representation for our people in the National Assembly; we do not even have a state assembly, because we are not a state, which breaks my heart daily.
FCTA sends street beggars back to Katsina, Kano, others
Group calls for cancellation of FCT senatorial election
“Some people do not even know that we have natives in the city; they believe in ‘no man’s land’, which hurts badly.”
Also speaking, the Executive Director of AOIYEO, Commandant Isaac David, lamented that the massive land belonging to the natives had been taken over by federal authorities and sold to buyers who now built malls and plazas on it, while the natives were being pushed into the hinterlands.
