1st November, 2011
In 1975, the late Nigerian hero, General Mutala Mohammed appointed a committee on the new location of the Federal Capital of Nigeria. A seven-man Committee was appointed, namely:
Dr Tai Solarin South
Professor O.O Ogan South
Alhaji Mohammed Musa North
Justice Akinola Aguda South
Professor Ajato Gandonu South
Chief Owen Fiebai South
Col Monsignor Pedro Martins South
The terms of reference of the committee were:
• To examine the dual role of Lagos as a Federal and State Capital, and advise on the desirability or otherwise of Lagos retaining that role;
• In the event of the committee finding that the Federal Capital should move out of Lagos, to recommend suitable alternative locations.
I learnt that the committee toiled day and night for four months on the terms of reference and made this recommendation:
“For yet another reason, we would recommend that the Federal Government rather than Lagos State Government should remove its capital from Lagos. There is no doubt that Nigeria is a federation consisting of a large number of ethnic and language groups with different cultures and traditions. Now, Lagos is within an area traditionally belonging to one of the major ethnic groups, namely: the Yoruba. Of course, this is not to say that people from other ethnic groups have not settled in Lagos either temporary or permanently. The point is clearly indisputable that the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of Lagos, we are told 75 and 80 percent, are Yorubas, that Lagos is essentially a Yoruba city with an Oba and traditional chiefs, and also that it is a city with predominantly Yoruba culture. In our view, the circumstances of Nigeria demand that the capital be not situated within a city of the type of Lagos with a strong connection with one of the major
ethnic groups. If we were to recommend that Lagos should continue as capital for the Federal Government, while the Lagos State moves to its capital elsewhere, this will not in our view, augur well for the unity of the country.†The seven wise men cleverly avoided siting of the Federal Capital within one of the three major ethnic groups. The seven wise men were able to conclude that “A new capital which will belong to every Nigerian, where every Nigerian will be rest assured that he has a opportunity to live in parity with every other Nigerian, and where no Nigerian will be regarded either in law or on the facts as a ‘native foreigner’ and that such a capital created on a virgin land would be for the vast majority of Nigerians a symbol of their unity and of the nation’s greatnessâ€.
In selecting the new location (now Abuja) the great men avoided a densely populated area and settled for a sparsely populated area where there would be few inhabitants to resettle. Some of those inhabitants were resettled. When Mutala Mohammed died on 13 February, 1976, the names suggested by Nigerians were abandoned and it was named Abuja – a name in an existing Northern emirate capital. The bottom line is that the successors of the Murtala-Obasanjo regime aborted the great dream of a Federal Capital of Nigeria which will be a home for all Nigerians conceived by a hero, General Murtala Mohammed. In the words of Justice Akinola Aguda, the chairman of the committee: “the whole concept of a new Federal Capital Territory as a symbol of our unity and nationhood has been completely assassinated and buriedâ€. Abuja is now being regarded as one of the states in the North. So the dream died and Nigeria lost (this is extracted from my book: HEROES OF DEMOCRACY).
In the peak of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election debacle, the powers that be arraigned the winner of that election, the late Chief MKO Abiola in an Abuja High Court for declaring himself President. Thousands of Nigerians from all walks of life, men and women were travelling to Abuja to show solidarity to the President they elected with 14 million votes. On their way to Abuja, they were stopped by security agents who beat them up like common criminals, stripped some of the women naked and consequently detained them for daring to travel to their capital city to cherish their freedom of expression.
On Wednesday 20th September, 2011 the Action Congress of Nigeria sympathisers travelling to Abuja to witness the trial of the National leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Code of Conduct Tribunal were ill-treated the same way. They were as usual maltreated at Lokoja, detained there and prevented from moving into Abuja to express themselves. We cried from the roof top that we are still being confronted with the remaining vestiges and incubus of military era.
Now, if you think the clueless shenanigans will pay attention and listen to the wise counsel of eminent Nigerians to respect the rights of citizens, then you may be wrong. On Tuesday again 25 October, 2011, 23 citizens of Osun State, travelling to Abuja on a branded Osun State Government vehicle were again stopped at Lokoja by security operatives led by the Kogi State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Amamama Ababakasanga and subjected to all manner of disgrace and humiliation. According to the overzealous CP “somebody that is going to Abuja should be able to tell us his mission. So since they don’t know their mission to Abuja we stopped them from moving furtherâ€
As usual the 23 Osun citizens were detained and compelled to return to Lagos. The Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola raised an alarm and alerted the nation of this terrible and inhuman assault meted out to his people travelling to Abuja on government vehicle in a democracy. The governor said the harassment of his people in Lokoja is an attack and an insult to Osun State Government of Nigeria and demanded unconditional apology from the IG of Police.
Now few days after the madness at Lokoja the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Arch. Namadi Sambo had the need to travel to Osun State capital Oshogbo to commission the Federal High Court complex. In protest Governor Aregbesola stayed away from the ceremony. Now, what did we expect the Vee Pee to do? We had expected that as a father, as the second citizen, and as a builder, he would have called Governor Aregbesola to apologise to the people of Osun State. He would have said: Your Excellency please ignore the antics of the overzealous Kogi State Commissioner of Police Amamama Ababakasanga. He went too far. He would have contacted you to find out whether you know about their movement. Please accept our apologies and I can assure you it will never continue againâ€. But Vee Pee Namadi Sambo did not do that, rather he arrogantly and timidly asked the Governor of Osun State to go to Court to seek redress. This is unbecoming of
anybody that is privileged to occupy the office of the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is unacceptable. It is like adding petrol to fire. It is unbelievable. It is provocative and at best, catastrophic. This is the political language of conservatives and anarchists throughout history.
Since 1993 those who have found themselves in the seat of power whether military or civilian, have continued to do violence to the recommendations of the late Chief Akinola Aguda 7-man committee that were the brains behind the creation of Abuja. I do not know whether any of them is still alive today and if they are not, the justice we can do to them is to respect their dreams and make Abuja the home for all Nigerians. May these incessant ugly incidents we see in Lokoja every other day not be a reccurring decimal in the history of this country.
•Igbokwe wrote in from Lagos.