ABUJA – The Resource Centre for Human Rights & Civic Education has urged the international community to intervene in the long-standing plight of the indigenous people of Abuja, who face challenges related to land ownership, political representation, and cultural preservation.
Despite some positive developments, including the appointment of an Abuja native as a Minister and the establishment of the FCT Civil Service Commission, CHRICED noted that the new governance structures lack representation from the indigenous people. Dr. Zikirullahi said, “We presented the case of over 2.5 million Indigenous people, known as the Abuja Original Inhabitants of Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory , consisting of nine tribes and seventeen chiefdoms, who are facing challenges of landlessness, statelessness, and the extinction of their culture. We stressed that without rectifying the injustice done to them, their future remains very bleak.