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The Network of Journalists on Indigenous Issues (NEJII) has faulted the Federal Government’s position that the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will not have a state police structure, insisting that Abuja’s indigenous people should play a central role in policing the nation’s capital.
In a statement issued at the weekend and signed by its officials, Akinwale Kasali and Fred Ojinika, the group said the FCT deserves a state police force constituted largely by Abuja Original Inhabitants (AOIs), whose ancestors own the land.
The statement was in response to comments attributed to the Presidency that Abuja would remain under the jurisdiction of the Nigeria Police Force, which is expected to be renamed the Federal Police Service.
According to NEJII, denying the FCT a state police structure would further marginalise the territory’s indigenous population and undermine internationally recognised indigenous rights.
“The idea of not having State Police in Abuja is wrong. There are some 2.5 million indigenous people in the Federal Capital Territory. There should be State Police in Abuja which should be constituted by indigenous people in the FCT,” the group said.
NEJII argued that security is closely linked to territorial sovereignty as well as physical and economic ancestry, adding that the Federal Government’s position runs contrary to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The group called on the Presidency and the National Assembly to reject any proposal that excludes indigenous people from state policing in the FCT.
It also urged the government to draw lessons from policing structures in Washington, London and New York, which it described as examples where capital cities maintain their own police services largely recruited from original inhabitants.
According to the group, the proposed state police arrangement should recognise an Abuja Metropolitan Police made up of indigenous inhabitants of the territory.
NEJII maintained that Abuja Original Inhabitants remain the majority population in the FCT and retain ancestral, spiritual, emotional and sociological ties to the land.
It argued that having already been denied statehood, indigenous people should not also be excluded from participating in the policing of the territory.
“In fact, the Abuja Original Inhabitants are the first nation, they are the first stakeholders that should be considered in Abuja policing,” the statement said.
The group further expressed concern that indigenous residents of the FCT are already unable to elect a governor or members of a State House of Assembly and warned that excluding them from a future state police system would amount to further marginalisation.
According to NEJII, while police personnel in the 36 states are expected to be recruited largely from their respective states, the absence of a similar arrangement in the FCT would deny about 2.5 million indigenous people across nine ethnic groups the opportunity to participate in state policing.
“With the lack of State Police in Abuja, the implication is that some 2.5 million representing nine ethnic groups will be denied and marginalised from involvement in state policing. This is a conscious way to further marginalise and isolate Abuja Original Inhabitants,” the group stated.
