The indigenous people of Abuja under the auspices of Abuja Original Inhabitants Youths Empowerment Organisation (AOIYEO) have disclosed that the re-election of President Bola Tinubu in 2027 will help end the marginalisation of indigenous people of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The Executive Director of the organisation and Supreme Leader of FCT Youths, Commandant Isaac David, stated this in Abuja on Thursday, while declaring the group’s support for the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, and Tinubu’s re-election bid.
David said the indigenous youths would mobilise their structures across the FCT to support Tinubu, whom he credited with interventions and infrastructure projects in communities that had suffered neglect over the years.
“So we vow to deliver Tinubu because he has done enough for us, and we have the assurance that when he comes back for a second tenure, our marginalisation will be totally crushed,” he said.
THE WHISTLER recalls that
Wike had, on Wednesday, told leaders and members of the Apo Mechanics and Traders Association in Abuja that he would resign as FCT minister if Tinubu lost the presidential election in both the FCT and Rivers State.
He said his ability to deliver the two territories for the President would determine whether he deserved to remain in office.
However, David said the minister’s position had strengthened the resolve of indigenous youths to support Tinubu, arguing that the administration’s infrastructure projects in the FCT represented a significant intervention in communities that had allegedly suffered neglect over the years.
He said, “We will back the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, that Tinubu will not lose the election in the FCT because posterity will not forgive us for the good things he has done to the indigenous people of the FCT through the Honourable Minister, Nyesom Wike.”
According to him, the group would mobilise its structures across the territory to support Tinubu, saying the decision was based on what he described as the administration’s interventions in the FCT.
He also linked the group’s position to the longstanding demand by FCT indigenous communities for greater political representation and the restoration of elected legislative and executive institutions in the territory.
David said the people of the FCT had witnessed what he described as progress towards addressing their political demands.
“We have proven the full political administrative structure that we have been yearning for, and State House of Assembly and governorship elections will no longer be a thing of the past,” he said.
He expressed confidence that constitutional and political reforms would eventually provide for elections for governor and State House of Assembly members in the FCT.
“We are confident that before the eight years of Mr Tinubu elapse, an election will be held for governor of the FCT, and a State House of Assembly election will also be held,” David said.
He added that the group’s proposed support for Tinubu was based on its assessment of developments in the territory and expectations concerning the next phase of the administration.
“So, for the things that he has done to the FCT, the indigenous people and the residents, we have vowed to pay him back with our votes,” he said.