Members of the Abuja Original Inhabitants Youth Empowerment Organization AOIYEO have been commended for adopting peaceful model to their various agitations over the years .
Speaking during the commemoration of 2023 world’s indigenous people day, the president of the group, commandant Isaac David saluted the resilience and steadfastness of the natives of Federal Capital Territory FCT
He noted that the peaceful manner in which they have advocated for the promotion and protection of their rights as the city’s original inhabitants has begun to yield positive results.
Commander David disclose that the decades long efforts and activism have now ensured that FCT indigenes would stand shoulder to shoulder with compatriots from other parts of Nigeria in making decisions for the good and orderly governance of Nigeria.
“it is very imperative and necessary to commend our people for going this far in pursuit of their freedom without recourse to violence, in fact no time would have been the best than this opportunity presented by this international day which coincident with the historic nomination of one of us Hon Zaphaniah Jisalo as minister for the first time in the last fifty years to celebrate the original inhabitants across the world because the United Nation’s international day of World Indigenous Peoples 2023 with theme “Indigenous Youth as Change Agents for Self-Determination” aptly depicts the realities of original inhabitants’ struggles in the FCT.”
He said that the original inhabitants in the FCT are well within their right to paint the city with beautiful colors to celebrate this milestone, which is the outcome of a long and tortuous struggle that put the pressure on the political actors to take the necessary step of including Abuja indigene in a critical governance structure.
This was what made AOIYEO therefore to commend all community and civil society actors and players who came together in one full voice to demand an end to the treatment of FCT original natives as second class citizens in their ancestral homelands, Isaac repeated.
“Their sustained struggle through intensifying advocacy to end the violation of their rights have resulted in a number of commendable outcomes within past years of vigorous advocacy for the promotion and preservation of their rights which must be celebrated while the advocacy continues to surmount other challenges ahead.”
The United Nations has designated every August 9 of the year as the international day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.
The day is recognized globally to commemorate the date of the working group on Indigenous Populations’ inaugural session in 1982, as the day was primarily dedicated for the liberties of indigenous peoples around the globe.
One of the most critical issues to reflect on in the context of promoting and protecting the rights of indigenous peoples is the principle of self-determination.
“This principle is well enunciated and recognized as a fundamental right in major human rights instruments, including the United Nations Charter. Similarly, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN Declaration) states that Indigenous Peoples have the right to self-determination (Article. 3) and in exercising this right, they have the right to freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. Self-determination is fundamental and must be taken together with Articles 1 and 2 of the UN Declaration because Indigenous Peoples are subject to international human rights law and as Peoples are equal to all other Peoples.
“These three articles of the UN Declaration confirm that Indigenous Peoples, including children and youth, have the right to make their own decisions and carry them out meaningfully and culturally appropriate to them.
Connected to the provisions of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution as amended, there can be no mistaken the fact of the decades-long violation of the rights of the Original Inhabitants in the FCT. Section 42 (1) of the Nigerian Constitution states that: A citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion shall not by reason only that he is such a person (a) be subjected either expressly by, or in practical application of the law in force in Nigeria or any executive or administrative action of the government, to disabilities or restrictions to which citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religious or political opinions are not made subject to.” With respect to the Original Inhabitants, this section of the Constitution and various provisions in international human rights instruments have been repeatedly violated for nearly fifty ye