[center]Why Abuja Is Not Nigeria's Capital[/center]

Written by Lawrence Chinedu Nwobu
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
There is something about the North that I admire so much. They have never hidden their disdain, hatred and lack of belief in the so called “one Nigeria.” At every opportunity they have demonstrated by their deeds and words their non-belief in Nigeria. Ironically, the South has continued to be fooled, and to make sacrifices for a nation that has never been and will probably never be. Notable Southern leaders like Dr Nnamidi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo amongst others did not have the wisdom and vision to appreciate the Northern hatred for the rest of Nigeria and to predict the impossibility of the nation they set out to construct.
Though Chief Obafemi Awolowo did make proclamations of a “mere geographical expression” in reference to Nigeria, it is likely such a statement was made more out of a strategy for political bargaining than as a conviction, as evidenced by the volte-face that ensued when the civil war brought the first real opportunity for the balkanisation of Nigeria. Chief Awolowo of course choose Nigerian unity against the ideals of balkanisation for a nation he had earlier rightly diagnosed and identified as a “mere, unworkable geographical expression.”

Dr Nnamidi Azikiwe on his own part was so steeped in his Pan-Africanist ideologies and his belief in the brotherhood of Black Africans that he totally ignored the warning signals and alarm bells emanating from the North. Lofty as the ideals of Pan-Africanism might be, Dr Nnamidi Azikiwe should have been smarter and more reflective in contemplating the unworkable nation he sought out to construct with unwilling partners from the North, whose only interest to date in the Nigerian project remains domination and exploitation of the Nigerian space. In the process of achieving their primary aims, the North has engendered gross injustice, inequality, segregation and gross violations of the right to life and property of thousands of Christians and Southerners.

The warning signals from the North was so obvious from the pre-independence era, that only a blind man could have ignored it. By 1945 the North had begun their long history of intolerance against Southern Nigerians which culminated in a bloody riot in Jos. In 1953 another display of intolerance was unleashed in Kano when bloody riots were organised by the Northern leadership against Southerners in protest against the Southern support for independence.

It is no secret that the North vehemently opposed independence from Great Britain, and several times opted for secession. It was only when independence ensured their domination of the Nigerian space that they found it acceptable. With the coup of January 1966, a perfect pretext to further unleash a campaign of ethnic cleansing was found. 50,000 innocent Southern civilians, ordinary everyday people, peasants, artisans, traders, women, children were massacred in an orgy of violence orchestrated by Northern leaders. In the aftermath of the genocide, they yet again proclaimed secession (araba) before the British convinced them of strategic interests they needed to control. From then on, the mantra changed to “one Nigeria,” not of love or a genuine interest in nation building, but as a convenient ploy to lock down the Nigerian space according to their whims and caprices. The end of the civil war, aided and abetted by Southern “mugus” only served to further consolidate the North, which has since then unleashed with greater impunity their insensitivity and “born to rule” agenda.

Abuja is part of the continuing evidence to date of an unhidden hatred and contempt for other Nigerians. It was never a capital meant for other Nigerians. Like everything Nigerian, Abuja is an ethnic city, conceived as a Northern capital but masked as a Nigerian capital in order to achieve the end of developing it with resources from other parts of Nigeria. As usual, the North has never hidden the agenda or design of Abuja as a capital of Northern Nigeria. The evidence abounds. In 2003 when the “Miss world” international pageant was to be held in Abuja, Northern leaders proclaimed Abuja a Northern city and opposed the hosting of the pageant on their territory. The long list of Ministers for Abuja listed below, whom but for one exception have all been Northerners is further proof beyond all reasonable doubts of the true and unhidden character of Abuja, and the apartheid system engendered by the North in Nigeria.

List Of Ministers For The So Called FCT

1. 1976-October 1, 1979 Mr. Ajose Adeogun Commissioner for Special Duties in charge of Abuja

2. 1979 – 1982 – Mr. John Kadiya – Hon. Minister FCT

3. 1982- 1983 – Alh. Iro Danmusa – Hon. Minister FCT

4. 1983-31st December 1983- Alh. Halilu Dantoro

5. 1984-1985 – Maj. Gen. Mamman Vatsa

6. 1985- 1989 A.V. Marshal Hamza Abdullahi

7. 1989- 1993 – Maj. Gen. Muhammad Gado Nasco

8.1993-1998 – Lt. Gen. Jeremaih Useni

9. July 1998- May 1999- Maj. Gen. Mamman Kotangora

10. 1999-2001 – Alh. Ibrahim Bunu

11. 2001-2003 – Mohammed Abba Gana

12. 2003-2007 – Mallam Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai

13. 2007 –November, 2008- Dr. Aliyu Moddibo Umar

I4.Current-Muhammad Adamu Aliero


Contempt, non-belief in Nigeria and hatred for other Nigerians has also ensured that the North has excluded others and dominated the nation’s leadership since independence. When Chief Moshood Abiola emerged the winner of a free and fair election in June 12 1993, he was killed in a gross act of exclusion and insensitivity. Segregation against Southerners is rife in the North where southerners in every town or city have had to live in separate areas known as “Sabon gari.” Nigeria is the only nation on the face of the earth where there is black on black segregation on religious grounds. Even in core Muslim countries like Egypt, Turkey, Sudan etc there is no segregation between their Christian and Muslim communities.

Acts of intolerance and ethnic cleansing that has consumed over 300, 000 lives (more than some civil wars) in frequent riots, continues to be a way of life in Northern Nigeria. Aside from a domination of Nigeria’s leadership, Ministries of Defence, Agriculture, FCT, Internal affairs and boards like the Customs have long become exclusive preserves of Northerners in a nation of three major ethnic groups and over 150 million people. The apartheid policies of exclusion and domination engendered in Nigeria by the North is enough evidence that Nigeria is a temporary state, serving the interests of an exploitative Northern cabal. It is time we faced the reality and realised that Abuja has never been, and will never be Nigeria’s capital. Southerners who continue to invest in Abuja must be mindful of their folly.

A situation where resources from other parts of Nigeria is used to development a Northern capital such as Abuja while other parts of Nigeria are neglected is definitely not acceptable. As an interim solution, the six zones should have a capital each designated for them. The six cities picked from each of the zones should be designated federal cities, and regional capital development authorities should be created to plan and manage the development of the six regional cities from funds contributed by the federal government and states within the zones. The joint federal-regional funds should be used to implement annual budgets on development projects such as construction of roads, housing estates, cluster industrial parks, schools and other critical infrastructure. Among the many advantages, this scheme will pacify the feelings of exploitation and exclusion by ethnic groups, create new well planned modern cities, create employment opportunities, and reduce the rural urban migration to already over-populated cities like Lagos and elsewhere. Before Nigeria becomes another Rwanda or Baghdad, a word should be enough for the wise.

Comrade Lawrence Chinedu Nwobu

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/lawrence-chinedu-nwobu/why-abuja-is-not-nigerias-ca.html

This was always bound to happen. The giant of Africa can't host the Under 17 World Cup. For heavens sake I mean how can a self proclaimed giant of Africa fail to host a mere Under 17 tournament. Everything Nigeria touches turns into a disaster. The All Africa games were logistical disaster.
The wanted to host the Commonwealth games and at last sanity prevailed as the tournament was awarded to Scotland. Imagine the embarrassment this would have brought to Africa. This makes me laugh when I think that this is the same country that wanted to host the 2010 world cup.
South Africa is going to host the 2010 FIFA world cup and FIFA is happy with the progress as most of the infrastructure is now nearing completion. Egypt will host the under 20 world cup. Why don't FIFA award the Under 17 world cup to Ghana as they were good hosts during the last African Cup of Nations.

I wonder what moronic characters like Morpheus24 and his girlfriend IFYGIRL are saying as their beloved country continues to embarass themselves. Nigeria is supposed to be the giant of Sub Saharan countries, the last hope for the black african nations (excluding South Africa). Africa will continue to be the laughing stock of the whole world if countries like Nigeria are allowed to bid to host events like the World Cups.

The much hated South Africa will continue to host hiccup free world events like the 95 Rugby World Cup, 96 African Cup of Nations (which was a small event by comparison to other tournaments)2003 Cricket World Cup. 2010 IS COMING AND fifa is happy. The next will be the Durban bid to host the olympics. We have no intentions of hosting colonial tournaments like the Commonwealth games, we aim higher as Durban is preparing an Olympic bid.

what the frell are you going on about ? @Mpele Are there two topics in here or something??

Kobojunkie:

what the frell are you going on about ? @Mpele Are there two topics in here or something??

I think he's going on about the topic which says FIFA loses faith in Nigeria - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-225200.0.html

Either way though, there’ll be always be bias in the selection of who leads who because we are all humans and we would always put ourselves first. I’m kind of beginning to think the Biafran wagons who want their independence might have a point, just by looking at the past heads of Abuja leaders.

Roflmao!!! So, why come air her disgust of self and others on here? I mean I go through the article and then her response and just wondering if this was @Nigeria1/@BecomeOne with yet another moniker, having one of his episodes on here. roflmao!!

Kobojunkie:

Roflmao!!! So, why come air her disgust of self and others on here? I mean I go through the article and then her response and just wondering if this was @Nigeria1/@BecomeOne with yet another moniker, having one of his episodes on here. roflmao!!

You know there can never be another Nigeria1/@BecomeOne as they'll always be counterfeits.

Mpele

You are an epileptic retard!


Topic

What a story, do i believe this? I dont know!

Abuja is an ethnic city to some extent  due to it's geographical location, it is bound to have more people of Northern extraction living there. Not a big deal if you ask me.

When Lagos was Nigeria's capital, was there a rotation of the position of state governor amongst the different zones? NO. In fact, apart from the exception of Marwa, I can't think of any other non-Yoruba person to have ruled Lagos.

The crucial question is this: does the list of FCT heads stand as the measure of whether Abuja is our capital or not? Is there anything enshrined in the constitution stating that the role of FCT minister must be rotated around the geo-political zones?

Let us look at it from another angle: El Rufai stated that 68% of land allocations belonged to the 19 Northern states, with the balance going to the south. 19 states out of 36 is equivalent to ~53% so with the 68% you could say the North has an element of dominance  (again understandable due to geographical location).

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-54751.0.html

Another statistic says Igbos own 73% of Abuja land - meaning the Northerners sold their allocations to other people. Now with this even more pronounced lopsidedness, should the Igbos be forced to sell their land to give an 'equitable' distribution of land? I don't think so.

Leadership of the FCT should not be a measure of how much of a capital Abuja is - Southerners seem hell bent on seeing holding the central position of power as indicative of their importance to Nigeria or the country's unity - I don't think it has worked out that way.

Ministry of Information has been filled by the Igbos more or less exclusively for a number of years - does that mean not all tribes can be information ministers? It is simply a case of 'zoning' or 'allocation'

Ofonagoro, Maduekwe, John Odey and now Dora - all Igbo

Same can be said for some other ministries e.g aviation - seems to be Yoruba dominated.

a Southerner not holding the position of minister of the  FCT is not an indication that Abuja isn't the capital.

Another statistic says Igbos own 73% of Abuja land - meaning the Northerners sold their allocations to other people. Now with this even more pronounced lopsidedness, should the Igbos be forced to sell their land to give an 'equitable' distribution of land? I don't think so.

Leadership of the FCT should not be a measure of how much of a capital Abuja is - Southerners seem hell bent on seeing holding the central position of power as indicative of their importance to Nigeria or the country's unity - I don't think it has worked out that way.

Ministry of Information has been filled by the Igbos more or less exclusively for a number of years - does that mean not all tribes can be information ministers? It is simply a case of 'zoning' or 'allocation'

Ofonagoro, Maduekwe, John Odey and now Dora - all Igbo

Same can be said for some other ministries e.g aviation - seems to be Yoruba dominated.

a Southerner not holding the position of minister of the FCT is not an indication that Abuja isn't the capital.

John Odey is efik

asha 80:

John Odey is efik

My apologies then - I thought he was Igbo. I still think the reasoning behind my post stands.

debosky:

Abuja is an ethnic city to some extent  due to it's geographical location, it is bound to have more people of Northern extraction living there. Not a big deal if you ask me.

When Lagos was Nigeria's capital, was there a rotation of the position of state governor amongst the different zones? NO. In fact, apart from the exception of Marwa, I can't think of any other non-Yoruba person to have ruled Lagos.

There is a difference between Lagos and Abuja. While Lagos is a full fledged State with an elected governor, Abuja was carved out solely to serve as the Federal Capital Territory with only an appointed executive head. The appointment is on the whims of the president.

The crucial question is this: does the list of FCT heads stand as the measure of whether Abuja is our capital or not? Is there anything enshrined in the constitution stating that the role of FCT minister must be rotated around the geo-political zones?

The head of administration in FCT goes a long way in fashioning the shape and life style in the territory. If for instance the head of FCT during the time of Miss World saga was Donald Duke, do you think the event will not hold?

There is also nothing in our constitution that says that the presidency should be rotated too

Ministry of Information has been filled by the Igbos more or less exclusively for a number of years - does that mean not all tribes can be information ministers? It is simply a case of 'zoning' or 'allocation'

Ofonagoro, Maduekwe, John Odey and now Dora - all Igbo

Of all the "juicy" ministries, it is only information that is exclusively Igbos, I don die   What happened to Works, Defence, Aviation, Interior, Agriculture, Water Resources, Power, Housing etc?

Same can be said for some other ministries e.g aviation - seems to be Yoruba dominated.

a Southerner not holding the position of minister of the  FCT is not an indication that Abuja isn't the capital.

A southerrner not ever holding the position of FCT minister shows the skewed and biased nature of the appointments, which goes to show some Nigerians are considered as outsiders

Governor of lagos that were not yorubas. El rufia is a lier. 80% of the allocation of land in abuja are to Northerners. Abuja is the capital of the north. And Yar adua is the president of the north.

Ndubusi Kanu 1977 1978
Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe 1978 1979
Captain Mike Akhigbe 1986 1988
Buba Marwa 1996 1999

youngies:

There is a difference between Lagos and Abuja. While Lagos is a full fledged State with an elected governor, Abuja was carved out solely to serve as the Federal Capital Territory with only an appointed executive head. The appointment is on the whims of the president.

This is factually incorrect. While the president nominates the executive head, he must be approved by the Senate. There are numerous cases of appointees being rejected by the Senate, so this is not entirely up the presidential whim, like a Special Adviser would be. I accept that there are differences between Lagos and Abuja, but they served the same essential purpose - the capital of the Federation. Even though Abuja was 'carved' out, the indigenes and original inhabitants of the area did not cease to exist. As a result there will always be some indigenous ethnic character in Abuja.

youngies:

The head of administration in FCT goes a long way in fashioning the shape and life style in the territory. If for instance the head of FCT during the time of Miss World saga was Donald Duke, do you think the event will not hold?

Are you saying the event didn't hold in Abuja because the head was of Northern extraction? The same El-Rufai who was a Northerner had made preparations to host the event. Only due to the MURDER of innocent civilians during protests did the event get moved - in the interest of SECURITY. Also note that the killings were not even in Abuja, so regarding this matter, the ethnicity/origin of the FCT head was NOT a factor.

youngies:

There is also nothing in our constitution that says that the presidency should be rotated too

This is the same point I was making. There must be some form of political agreement for this to continue in this fashion. The onus is on representatives from other areas of Nigeria (in the Senate and House of Reps) to legislate this as a requirement, OR to use their influence to get it rotated around the country.

youngies:

Of all the "juicy" ministries, it is only information that is exclusively Igbos, I don die   What happened to Works, Defence, Aviation, Interior, Agriculture, Water Resources, Power, Housing etc?

This seems to be the 'hidden message' behind the original article - a protest against seeming marginalization of the Igbos. That is a separate discussion on its own, that example simply showed that a ministerial role (which is what the FCT position essentially is) can be 'reserved' or 'held' by a particular zone/region by political agreement.

youngies:

A southerrner not ever holding the position of FCT minister shows the skewed and biased nature of the appointments, which goes to show some Nigerians are considered as outsiders.

I disagree with this. I think there are more crucial issues at stake than simply heading the FCT ministry as a show of 'unity'. There are much better ways to do that. States are given equal representation in the selection of ministers, with at least 2 appointees from each state getting selected. The FCT minister's role falls under this and so cannot be treated in isolation.

Nigerians must get beyond the thinking that holding a particular position equates with being 'insiders'.

Debosky

Originator of grammar, pls quit playing devil's advocate. We all know that this entity, called Nigeria, as currently constituted is grossly loopsided in all regards especially in the distribution of federal appointments and other 'national cake'.

Why in the first place was Abuja chosen as the FCT? Why not Benue, Jos or someother more neutral region? Why was the FCT carved out of the state of the then ruling military head of state? How then can an FCT, created out of selfish and tribalistic tendencies, be a truly national capital? All these are salient questions we might need to answer someday before Nigeria can be truly united.

@ post nonesense!!

dnt know what abuja yall talkin about. i tried quite hard this time to understand the average northerners, i think the average northerner sees himself as a nigeria. however looking from the other side of things, the main-stream which those few northern political gangster-looters club control tells u otherwise. So i think one just have to be careful sometimes in the beleives.

It all good for yall to sit there runnin your mouth in a whiteman country, all u need to do is to vist abuja, and see yourself chineke wetin!,there are lots of igbos, yoruba-lots have relocate to abuja, idoma,hausa, u name it living togerther.The so called the original indigenes-the hausa just before abuja was discover were compensated chased away and relocated to some swampy and poor area called ZUBA!

The question that still remain, is when are the nigerians gona striving to make a change like ZIk did?

ONCE AGAIN TO ALL YALL THAT OVERSTAYED IN OYIBOLAND, VIST HOME PLSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

the nigeria u see in the media or the interent or NAiraland is different !! till u get that, the better

NIGERIA HAS COME TO STAY! remember when u gone in your casket!

nonesense!!!

zuluman up there, how many black face u see in ur zulu airport whenever u pay vist! zulu fagot!

If Abuja is not the capital, then which city is Nigeria capital? Is it Kano, Lagos, Aba, Calabar, Ibadan or your village?

Xavier.:

Debosky

Originator of grammar, pls quit playing devil's advocate. We all know that this entity, called Nigeria, as currently constituted is grossly loopsided in all regards especially in the distribution of federal appointments and other 'national cake'.

Why in the first place was Abuja chosen as the FCT? Why not Benue, Jos or someother more neutral region? Why was the FCT carved out of the state of the then ruling military head of state? How then can an FCT, created out of selfish and tribalistic tendencies, be a truly national capital? All these are salient questions we might need to answer someday before Nigeria can be truly united.

Thanks for acknowleging my name jare - na Dede give me.

You raised a lot of valid points there. I believe this is the direction we should be moving in. I don't think we can recreate Abuja or select another area to start all over again, but we can try to make it a 'truly national capital'. Will that involve rotating the position around the zones or simply allowing the person to be elected? That is not clear.

I'm not claiming there are no loopholes or inequalities in Nigeria, but the FCT minister case is not one of them in my view. People tend to get easily whipped up into this 'marginalization' thing, so much so that even the Northerners complained of the same thing a few years ago. Would you now take a census of officials of the FCT and insist the employees be split according to Nigerian states? Where does it stop?

So ikey, I know you are a northener, what are those igbos doing in Abuja. are they not traders. ? Most of them do not hve any good job. Go to the federal ministry, everybody is hausa and with speaking hausa. That is the password to enter anywhere.


We must understand that Yar adua is the president of the north and abuja is the capital of the north. For me. I dont care what every they do in abuja. That why I only pay my tax to lagas state . I have never paid to federal. I would rather die, than pay tax to the north or to yar adua,

lookalike2!

hahha u funi ikeyman00 aboki hahhha, well the name speak for itself me afraid broda. im igbo. the only slowpoke in here that think im hausa is becomerich benin fool but thats a lie!

well dnt know if u look like obasanjo, but hey i can undertsand where u comin from

all over nigeria, i think there is a huge wahala, the hausa probably come-off worse. the only diference here is most abokis in the mainstream are rich, powerful,evil,deadly,etc but hey can that be said for an average malam, like MCusman hahhahh opp haa

moving down to the east as u might not know there are lots of hausa communities there.

It might just look like the north are in the noble side, but hey in the long-long run the igbos will, i repeat will rise up and being look up to by rest of yall !! When some stupid white people were swearing on top of their voice, bet u they never see the whiteglobal economic wahala coming ehuh

u can always denounce who u are, but we recognise u when we see ya

Quote:
"We must understand that Yar adua is the president of the north and abuja is the capital of the north. For me. I dont care what every they do in abuja. That why I only pay my tax to lagas state . I have never paid to federal. I would rather die, than  pay tax to the north or to yar adua."

Yes, Yaraduo is the most prejudiced president we may ever see in years to come.

agree but emm for how long will this gworo chewing ass hole system works for the abokis and malams

hope this doesnt insitigate the vampires to the next slutting or butchering in the north!

You people do know that Abuja is not a native Hausa land?
Minsters on the list who were not from Core-North, and would not consider themselves Hausa

John Jatau Kadiya
Jeremiah Timbut Useni
Adeogun

And Abuja has been capital for roughly 20 yrs as opposed to 35 yrs that Lagos was

ikeyman , you are an idiot. everybody know that you are hausa. Now let me test your igbo.
Ikeyman Kedu,

Afam bu john.   Gini bu afa gi?

What do we igbo call Itenani ?
What do we igbo call Akuko?
What do we igbo call Okuko ?
What do we igbo call Enyim?
What do we igbo call Nwannem nwanyi?
What do we igbo call Akwukwo?

if you dont give me an answer in one hour, you are not igbo. i know you could  call your igbo friend to ask. I see you online posting to other s just now. so dont claim you did not see it.  ewu.

l[b]ookalike u are slowpoke[/b]

listen fool this nairaland belongs to us before u even get to learn to read and write!

have u ever heard of one and only Superman thats me and u can check it out fool, becomerich nko yoruba nigernumber1 fool,

now ike means igbo fool not malam vampires aboki !! u know

for that i desist from translatin those phrases of yours fool

now u can ask around, or your best chance is if u could ask JINX, ask her if this soldier anywhere near northern vampire

damn nairaland just keep breedin more fools, chineke try to vist home ooo, if u got illegal status, i can give u some connection to flow ur ulgy[b] obasanjo-looklike[/b] back home. then u will see the so called zuba de suffer for zuba we claim say na de get abuja

nonesense persi


okuku like u !!

you have no answer, the only igbo word , you can say is chineke,

you are really ewu.

I dont have time for hausa people. go and meet your hausa president Yar adua.

now listen ewu nama, no try me ooo, me wey vist enugu,imo,anambra no bi igbo, look here, i agam aku gi okpo if u no take time here

ode, go abuja wey u think say hausa get ka ifuru igbo de shine,along other ethnics. ibukwa onya ara u know. abi na amu gi de still starve.

hahha

debosky:

Thanks for acknowleging my name jare - na Dede give me.

You raised a lot of valid points there. I believe this is the direction we should be moving in. I don't think we can recreate Abuja or select another area to start all over again, but we can try to make it a 'truly national capital'. Will that involve rotating the position around the zones or simply allowing the person to be elected? That is not clear.

I'm not claiming there are no loopholes or inequalities in Nigeria, but the FCT minister case is not one of them in my view. People tend to get easily whipped up into this 'marginalization' thing, so much so that even the Northerners complained of the same thing a few years ago. Would you now take a census of officials of the FCT and insist the employees be split according to Nigerian states? Where does it stop?

You have not paid for the initial licensing fee of the name yet. But why are you humbling me in this manner after all the grammatical exercises we saw through. Remember we discussed prepositional issues and words not conforming to written grammar.

Anyway, I disagree with you on the contention that Nigeria should not select another area to develop. The city may not be nation’s capital city but comparable to Lagos or Abuja in terms of infrastructures fully funded by the federal government.

debosky:

This is factually incorrect. While the president nominates the executive head, he must be approved by the Senate. There are numerous cases of appointees being rejected by the Senate, so this is not entirely up the presidential whim, like a Special Adviser would be. I accept that there are differences between Lagos and Abuja, but they served the same essential purpose - the capital of the Federation. Even though Abuja was 'carved' out, the indigenes and original inhabitants of the area did not cease to exist. As a result there will always be some indigenous ethnic character in Abuja.

Again you missed the point by a mile. I repeat the appointment of the minister of FCT is on the whims of the president. You fail to realise how things work here. Yes I agree the Senate approves the President's nominations, but remember that the President does not attach portfolios to the nomination list before sending it to the Senate. So tell me how the Senate will know who will eventually get to head the FCT? The President appoints whomever he chooses from the list of approved nominees to head the FCT administration and in 98% of the cases, northerners.

Are you saying the event didn't hold in Abuja because the head was of Northern extraction? The same El-Rufai who was a Northerner had made preparations to host the event. Only due to the MURDER of innocent civilians during protests did the event get moved - in the interest of SECURITY. Also note that the killings were not even in Abuja, so regarding this matter, the ethnicity/origin of the FCT head was NOT a factor.

Please sir, get your fact right. Miss World is purely a private affair. El-Rufai has nothing to do with it. He didn't make any preparations, infact he was glad to see that it failed. The only person in "government" that was closely associated with the Miss World event was Stella Obasanjo. If Rufai has any preparation to make it was simple on matters of security as an agent of the State, and he failed woeful to do that even though there were intelligence reports of plans to disturb the peace of the city.

This is the same point I was making. There must be some form of political agreement for this to continue in this fashion. The onus is on representatives from other areas of Nigeria (in the Senate and House of Reps) to legislate this as a requirement, OR to use their influence to get it rotated around the country.

I wish it is as easy as you make it to sound

This seems to be the 'hidden message' behind the original article - a protest against seeming marginalization of the Igbos. That is a separate discussion on its own, that example simply showed that a ministerial role (which is what the FCT position essentially is) can be 'reserved' or 'held' by a particular zone/region by political agreement.

I fail to see how this message is hidden in the article.

I disagree with this. I think there are more crucial issues at stake than simply heading the FCT ministry as a show of 'unity'. There are much better ways to do that. States are given equal representation in the selection of ministers, with at least 2 appointees from each state getting selected. The FCT minister's role falls under this and so cannot be treated in isolation.

Debo there are key ministries as well as ministers. That's why not all the ministers can walk in and see the president without a prior appointment expect the key ministers. States are not given equal representation, some States have majority of their nominees as "junior" ministers while others have thiers as always "senior" ministers. 

Nigerians must get beyond the thinking that holding a particular position equates with being 'insiders'.

Maybe in the near future, yes. But right now the position is what equate to your class (insider or outsider)

@post
while i wont come on here and profess to have an indepht knowledge of nigerian history,especially concerning the pre independence era and the parts played by the leaders of that time,one thing that the article failed to address is the reason why the south failed to form a strong opposition to these injustice,prior to independence,especially seeing as they have seen the hand writing on the wall, one recurrent decimal from the accounts i have read is the issue of trust,its all very well and good calling these who aided them mugus,but an objective individual will thoroughly examine why the south opted to support the north,the underlying issues and concerns they shared,why the south south also supported nigeria,the issues and their concerns e.t.c before coming to a conclusion as to them being mugus.

i think the article also erroneously assumed that the north did not bring anything to the table as it were,their contributions to nigeria shouldnt be dismissed even though most of what the article said is the truth,no matter "the born to rule"ideology shared by by northerners,the only single reason they have been able to perpetually practise it is because of the coniviance of the same south including the south east,the technocrats,the politicians e.t.c

like someone said ,abuja's overwhelming northern influence isnt just because of some clandestine northern agenda,but its geographical proximity to the northern areasthis might have had the effect of more northerners than other tribes migrating there,after all,other tribes only started migrating to abuja not more than 20 years ago or considerably less,and it is mostly populated by northerners so it stands to reason more northerners will be ministers.

sentiments aside,from indications and accounts of the abiola saga we have been reading and hearing,abiola was not betrayed by the northern oligarchy as the media has been drumming into our ears,abiola's betrayers are in government right now,they are people close to him,from his own ethnic groups,from the south east,middle belt e.t.c
while the north might segregate other tribes living in their states,the writer has failed to mention hausas living in south eastern or south western states,are they not segregated as well?
dont south west and south easterns generally discriminate against them as being either dirty,smelly e.t.c its much more prevalent in our tv programmes with the negative stereotyping of hausas as fit for nothing more than mai guards,ignorant and illiteratecontent with his small transistor radio and small shack selling sweets and biscuits, the point here is that we are all guilty of it all tribes inclusive.

all the problems,and injustices meted out to other tribes by the northerners would never have happened if not for the tacit coniviance of the south east and south west,middle belt. the day they put ethnic distrust amongst each other aside and self interest then they can form a viable opposition to the northerners,where financial inducement will not make them break ranks,one pertinent point we must not fail to take note of is the fact that,majority of the average northerners are suffering from the same norther domination that the rest of nigerians are suffering from,so they are sort of between the devil and the deep blue sea, i wish articles such as this will make the distinction between "NORTHERN OLIGARCHS" AND "AVERAGE NORTHERNERS.

Fair write up, with loads of assumptions and no concrete facts

youngies:

Fair write up, with loads of assumptions and no concrete facts

im sure you saw the first line where i admitted i have only rudimentary knowledge of pre independence politics in naija,however why not state the assumptions so that i can address them?

is the assumption that there wernt trust issues as to who the south west was supporting during the biafra war?

or that the north's groundnut pyramids,diary and meats,and other agricultural products fed majority of nigeria even till now?

or that they north are not in power with the coniviance of both the south east and south west,middle east politicians,technocrats and political jobbers?

was m.k.o abiola not betrayed by people close to him and nigerians from other tribes who urged ibb not to allow him?

or that other tribes are not guilty of segregation and negative stereotyping of the north?

please where is the assumptions??

btw i hope you realise that my comments are just that, comments not a literary piece or journal article, there s a massive difference