Gbagyi’s Drum Beats of War
Senate president held hostage? It was a protest that was meant to take off peacefully and end with order, even as the hundreds of protesters besieged the capital city from all parts of Abuja and beyond. But at the end close watchers of the unfolding event got more than they bargained for. Equally for many […]
Senate president held hostage?
It was a protest that was meant to take off peacefully and end with order, even as the hundreds of protesters besieged the capital city from all parts of Abuja and beyond. But at the end close watchers of the unfolding event got more than they bargained for. Equally for many who were used to the taciturn nature of the average Abuja indigene, the Gbagyi, the aggressive demeanour of the protesters coupled with their menacing chants, had many scampering for safety even as more stout hearted witnesses watched from afar.
Shagari Sambo is a youth leader of the Gbagyi people, and he is one of those channelling the new face of coordinated protests by the indigenous peoples of the federal capital territory. He was equally one of the arrow heads of the protest that took the nation’s capital by storm and had many newspaper houses on their toes, in an attempt to capture highlights of the protest which was a new trend for many who have studied the Gbagyi quest for empowerment over the years. In a brief online interaction, he gives a brief insight into what actually inspired the protest and the events that transpired on that fateful day.
‘Some Abuja indigenous people on Thursday held Senate President David Mark to ‘hostage’ (sic)while demanding for their constitutional rights to their lands during the Senate hearing on the review of the 1999 Constitution. The Federal Capital Territory indigenes say they want a second-tier government that will cater for them like other states of the federation. The Abuja indigenous people appeared at the public hearing in their traditional costumes to protest shabby treatment by the Federal Government against them. After making a peaceful demonstration, they however felt unsatisfied with the response of their representatives and decided to seek for the intervention of the Senate President who was about leaving the venue by insisting he addresses them.’
He goes on: ‘the indigenes accuse the government of forceful demolition of their homes, farmlands and communities, including haphazard relocations and land-grab by government officials and wealthy land speculators, without compensation. Some Senators say the people’s right to a protest is within the confines of the law but are appealing for patience. Their representative in the Senate says he is confident that the Senate will accommodate the demands of the indigenous people of the Federal Capital Territory in the new constitution. Three days ago, the indigenes held a demonstration round Abuja city to protest what they termed the “statelessness of the Original Inhabitants of Abuja.” They accuse the Nigerian government of not keeping to its promises made to them 36 years ago.’
On the 9th of October, over 100 indigenes under the auspices of the Original Inhabitants Development Association of Abuja (OIDA) besieged the FCT secretariat at (FCTA) at Area 11 in Garki, many of them stark naked. They were protesting alleged marginalisation of their kith and kin by successive governments. The protesters also reportedly stormed the Secretariat in four trucks effectively stalling human and vehicular traffic for hours. As part of their bouquet of demands they requested for a Federal Capital City (FCC) carved out of the present FCT and 20 percent ‘derivation’ on all sales accruing from allocable lands within the new FCC. They also demanded ‘40 per cent of all land allocation to individuals within the FCC. While agreeing to concede the 1,600 square kilometres of the Federal Capital City as drawn in the Abuja Master plan to Nigeria as the capital city of the nation they did not mince words when they demanded that the remaining 6,400 square kilometres of the larger Federal Capital Territory be granted a state status for the original inhabitants of the massive range of lands Abuja now occupies.
A bouquet of demands?
Pastor Danladi Jeji, president of OIDA tells Sunday Trust that unless the authorities see to the demands of the original owners of the city, more protests are on the way. While explaining that the protests will be largely peaceful, he urges those concerned to prevent them in the first place through proactive steps to bring the Gbagyi to the dialogue table.
‘The original inhabitants say that the FCT people are making the demand so as to reverse the ensuing confrontation between our people and the Federal Government of Nigeria. While lamenting that they have been short-changed by the Nigerian government on their ancestral lands with no compensation, the Abuja natives are also demanding for 20% of all sales accruing from allocable lands, and 40% of all land allocations to individuals within Abuja city. They also said major streets in the Federal Capital City should as a matter of policy, be named after FCT-indigenous heroes and traditional leaders by the government,’ Danladi stated firmly.
He gives a litany of other grievances: ‘Unlike other citizens of Nigeria, we are discriminated upon when seeking admission to academic institutions for ourselves or our children, our Lawyers do not have opportunities to become Chief Judges, our Civil Servants are short-changed from rising to positions of Permanent Secretaries or Head of Service and our politicians do not have opportunities of becoming Commissioners, State House of Assembly members or Governors. The development of our communities are at the mercy of strangers who are appointed as Ministers but hardly know the yearnings of our people. Our constitutional rights to self-determination have been usurped by the Nigerian state thereby rendering us stateless. In fact, we are constantly being mocked as “stateless” Nigerians or “No man’s land” by other citizens.’
‘The original inhabitants of Abuja say they are not making a demand for the creation of a new state, but simply asking that Section 299 of the 1999 Constitution be fully applied in accordance with the spirit of the constitution by reversing the military contraption that Abuja, FCT is at present so that the people can enjoy their constitutional rights to vote their leaders who will govern and not administer the territory as ministers do at the moment,’ he concludes.
He added that a major protest would soon take place in Gwargwada, a large enclave of the displaced Gbagyi located on the fringes of the city.
Gbagyi: A chequered history
Online records describe the Gbagyi tribe principally as peace loving. Gbagyi (also spelled Gwarri and Gbari) are an ethnic group in central Nigeria. They are predominantly found in the Niger and Kaduna States and the Federal Capital Territory. They are also found in Nasarawa and Kogi States in central Nigerian Area.Gbagyi is the most populated ethnic Group and indigenous in the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria and their major occupation is farming,’ records have it.
‘The Gbagyi people are known to be peace-loving, transparent and accommodating people. Northerners are fond of saying in Hausa language “muyi shi Gwari Gwari” (meaning let’s do it like the Gbagyi or in the Gbagyi way). In addition the Gbagyi people have emerged as a unique breed of people among Nigerians, their culture shows how much they have come to terms with the universe. Daily they aspire to give life a meaning no matter the situation they find themselves, Wikipedia says.
The Gbagyi are still regarded by many historians more as an ancient culture which is comparable in age and beauty only to the famed Nok culture in Kaduna State. Today, however, only a few have relatively remained unaffected by the attractions of modernity, which is taking over the city. In the past, their women were quickly identified for carrying heavy loads (at times reaching several meters high into the sky) only on their shoulder. This is an old tradition which is strictly adhered to by Gbagyi children. They believe that the head is the most sacred part of the body, which is already saddled with the task of thinking for the whole body, and therefore should not be over burdened. But today most of these cultural underpinnings are being challenged by modernity. Seeing such women reeling under enormous loads is today a rare sight in the city.
Anguish of an eroded cultural heritage
While much of the younger generation are principally worried over the political yearnings and aspiration of their tribe in the face of national challenges, the older generation worry much more about the cultural obliteration and religious renaissance the seizure of their lands has brought the tribe. One of such people is a prominent leader of the tribe, the Sa’Peyi of Garki village, HRM Dr Usman Nga Kupi.
In an interview with the reporter he laments the gradual decimation of the Gbagyi values and orientation by the incursion of external forces on their heritage.”It is a common trend anywhere in the world where people give up their lands for the greater good of the society. The indigenous tribes found they always suffer setbacks in terms of development. The people coming in, are always superior in terms of education, social and political power. They are usually the elite in the society. So when this happens the effects become glaring. The people they meet there will eventually be relegated to the background, and they would not be able to raise their heads. For the average Gbagyi man, the industrialization of the city has affected their economy as a whole. Educationally, we are backward. Political power is not also in our hands. To be more precise, in every aspect of our lives we have been greatly affected.
What little benefits we may enjoy at times is at the local level, maybe at some area councils. At the higher levels such as the state and the federal levels, we don’t get any attention from the authorities. And we cannot achieve political power except we first acquire education, and the means has so far been denied us. This has ultimately retarded our development as a tribe.
We are farmers by nature, we do not have any other profession in which we are competent like farming. As the land is being taken away from us on a daily basis by the government for industrialization purposes, there are no alternative trades for the people to get involved in..It is like uprooting a plant from its taproots. It is like killing the source of occupation of a particular people. Apparantly, the people you have deprived of their sources of revenue become a problem or beggars in their own land, most especially the younger ones,’ he said in the interaction.
‘There are very few cottage industries here in the city, which are incapable of employing a lot of people, so you eventually have a large population of youths with no means of livelihood, and that is a problem in itself. What is obtainable in the Niger Delta region is equally applicable here in Gbagyi land. Afterall, in the Niger Delta after the resources are tapped, their land still remains. But here our lands which are our only means of income, are being taken over completely. In addition to this the government should put in place palliative programs aimed at economically empowering the indigenous tribes, so that they would be able to survive alongside their families. It would be a slap on the face of government, if we become beggars in our own land,” he concluded.
Idris Muhammed, a Gbagyi chieftain and farmer enumerates some changing aspects of the Gbagyi culture: ‘there are a lot of changes due to civilization which has brought a lot of distress to us, it also brought modernity to our society.
Our women never knew anything like Gas cooker for example and many other kitchen utensils, they only used firewood and clay pots to cook then. But now they are so familiar with these items and even know how to use them. Even in the aspect of food, we only use to eat maize, which is our major food, but we now eat many foreign foods like spaghetti, indomie and many more.
And again looking at the aspect of education, a typical Gbagyi man used to feel it is a waste of time and resources to put his daughter in school. But as civilization has come to stay, they now include them in the education sector by sending them to schools. I have a grown up girl who is seeking admission presently at the Nasarrawa Polytechnic. If it were those days, she would have gone far into her husband’s house. Many of our children now speak more of English today than the local dialect.’
Futility of a legal panacea
A lawyer cum journalist who does not want his name in print, advices the leadership of the Gbagyi to be careful on the manner of approach they decide to adopt in achieving their aims of empowerment. ‘They will not be able to get a legal reprieve if they take the legal pathway. For two principal reasons. One, it is a constitutional matter that can only be taken care of through the active involvement of the National Assembly or a national conference. It is at such a forum that they can articulate their grievances and get a listening hear. Two, if they toe the legal path it will only work in their disfavour as there is already a constitutional provision that vests the ownership of all lands on just one entity: the federal government. The only way out for them is through dialogue, peaceful protests and lobbying of their representatives and other legislators that are sympathetic to their cause,’ he enthuses in a short interaction.
But Jideofor Adibe, a columnist suggests a more proactive attempt by the authorities to nip the looming crisis in the bud. ‘I have sympathy for the demand of Abuja indigenes for a sort of ‘derivation’ on their lands. Let’s face it, historically, various groups in the country have campaigned for and obtained ‘derivation’ for their assets: at the 1950 Constitutional Conference in Ibadan, the North insisted that because of their population, unless they received 50 percent representation in a planned National Assembly they would secede from the country and their demand was granted.
Since then till date there has been a ‘derivation’ on population. In the same way, the people of Niger Delta campaigned for and have been enjoying ‘derivation’ (currently 13%) on revenue from oil found in their area. At a point the South-East and the South-West enjoyed ‘derivation’ on primary school enrolment in which they had advantages. Groups that are vulnerable to natural disasters also have reprieve in a special ‘derivation’ fund known as ‘ecological fund’. So what is wrong in the indigenes of Abuja asking to be similarly treated?
Even if many of their demands appear to be mere bargaining chips, there is an urgent need to listen sympathetically to them, and make more convincing efforts to redress some of their grievances. And for a start, will it be a big deal if a portion of the statutory allocation to the FCT is reserved for improving their welfare? And why is a Permanent Commission to attend to their development needs too much, when we have a number of such infrastructures for the Niger Delta?’ he says in his weekly column.
Online records equally reveal that the Justice Timothy Akinola Aguda panel had recommended that what is now known as Abuja should be a neutral, central place that could be home to all, as opposed to Lagos, which had become congested by traffic and people. In order to create the new territory, 8000sq/km was carved out of the old Kwara (now Kogi), Niger and Plateau (now Nasarawa) states. The Gbagyi, who were the inhabitants of Abuja, were also affected – they lost their land and their roots. In accordance with the provisions of the Federal Capital Territory Act of 1976, the inhabitants of the FCT were to be evacuated and resettled in their respective states of origin.
‘The initial policy to move and resettle the Gbagyi, was said to cost the federal government two billion naira. In 1978, this policy was reviewed: only those who had resided within the 250sq/km making up Abuja would remain. Natives who did not fall within Abuja, (i.e. Gwagwalada, Bwari, Kuje, Abaji and Kwali) were to stay on, but without autochthonous rights.’
In the eye of the storm
City officials have always hidden behind the ready excuse of adhering to the ‘Master Plan’ in every demolition exercise embarked upon. Demolition of their houses and uprooting from communities is one of the sources of complaints for the Gbagyi. This is also in the face of serial unconfirmed allegations by the authorities of corruption by the Gbagyi leadership many of which are accused of reselling properties allocated to them as compensation and subsequently returning to protest against the same government for maltreating them.
In a recent interview with an online medium, African Examiner on 13 October 2012, the FCT minister urged restraint amongst the tribe confessing that his administration could not carry out a successful resettlement of the indigenes due to paucity of funds. Excerpts of the interview read thus: “the Indigene issue is a long story.
When Abuja concept was developed, they were supposed to be resettled outside Abuja and that is why you have Sabo Wuse and other town in the outskirt of the city, but it was discovered it was expensive. So government decided it would resettle the people in the area within the 8,000 Km sq. Under the arrangement, the indigenes would be provided with housing as per their numbers in different places. But that has failed because we have not be able to raise funds to complete houses for the indigenes. We have made estimate and found out that we need N145 billion naira to offset the cost of housing project and other entitlement. For now, we are building settlement for the community along airport roads. We are trying to fast-track the project so that at the end of the day we can resettle those that constitute social development challenge.”
Violence is not an option say leaders
Recently, in a tragic demolition exercise carried out at the Apo section of the city, youths turned out en masse to oppose the move. In the heat of confrontation one of the security operatives shot into the crowd killing a lady (though not Gbagyi). For many this does not portend a healthy relationship for future protests against similar demolitions.
A prominent leader of the Gbagyi, Gimba Gbaiza, Co-ordinator, Greater Gbagyi Development, says that despite the stiffness of the situation, the tribe would not resort to violence but would rather deploy all peaceful means to get their demands met. In a short telephone interaction with the reporter he says the leaders are ready for dialogue with the authorities. ‘We are a peace loving tribe. A typical Gbagyi leader abhors any form of violence as a form of protest. But personally we are appalled at the ‘divide and rule’ tactics the government is always using to address the situation. They try to always create division amongst the leaders, so that we would not have a common front to challenge them.
We are ready for dialogue. None of us will ever allow the situation to degenerate into violence. Abuja belongs to all of us, no matter where we are from. So, if anything destroys the fabric of peace and prosperity of the capital city it will affect all of us. But common sense dictates that the original owners and indigenes of the land be treated fairly. All our demands are simple and straightforward and can be met if only the government is ready to be sincere with us,’ he says.
A resident, Abdulhamid Yusuf (real name withheld) who has stayed in the city for many years urges the government to meet the yearnings of the indigenes. ‘I have never come across a more peaceful tribe. When I first came into Abuja it was a Gbagyi man that accommodated me for 6 months without collecting a dime.
They are very accommodating and peace loving, and sincerely I do not think they have received fair treatment from the authorities. To me they have been taken for granted. But you know even a peace loving person can be transformed into a warrior if pushed to the wall. I hope we do not get to that point…