Our Stand On the Ongoing #EndSARS Protests.

Our attention has been drawn to an outrageous action by one Yusuf Ahmadu Yunusa and his ilks who claim to have acted on behalf of the indigenous people of Abuja. According to media reports, Yusuf and his people claim that the indigenous people of Abuja are against the protests going on across the country. We wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from Yusuf and the actions of his gang. We find his claims offensive and insulting to the countless Gbagyi youths who have been harassed and extorted by the now defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad.

Gbagyi people the world over are known to be hospitable and for upholding the dignity and sanctity of human life. We have, over the years, condemned the extrajudicial killings of Nigerian youths by policemen. While we condemn any attempt to hijack the #EndSARS campaign by unscrupulous elements, we stand solemnly with our fellow youths who have taken to the street to demand an end to the killer squad as well as a total reform of the police force. We would never oppose a demand for a better and an egalitarian society, and we definitely did not appoint Yusuf Ahmadu Yunusa to speak for us. We have been victims of injustice for too long to support any form of oppression meted upon our fellow citizens.

The Gbagyi people of Nigeria are a peculiar set, scattered across the geography of Nigeria and further divided across religious and dialectical lines; dismissed as a bush tribe that must continuously be pushed farther from civilization. Like the red Indians, our lands have been taken, our ancestral homes destroyed to give way to urban development (one we are denied the enjoyment of). From the hills of Maitama to the vastness of Wuse our people were forcefully evicted and turned into tenants in Kubwa and faraway Niger state; in the heart of Bwaya (Bwari), a stranger was imposed upon our brethren as paramount ruler; throughout Kaduna state, history is constantly been rewritten to erase the place of Gbagyi people as the indigenous tribe – from the renaming of towns and villages to the distortion of the true origin of Queen Amina; Nassarawa is a lost home to us as we have no say in matters of the state at all.

There is a desperate need to take charge of our affairs and tell our own stories. But no individual can do this. We believe that the individual, like every society, develops on three fronts: intellectually, socially, and physically. This knowledge inspires in us the hope that we can instigate the Gbagyi youth unto the onerous yet indisputably rewarding path of self-development. With a population of over twelve million (12,000,000), if regulated and channeled towards meaningful transactions, we qualify for a resilient political, social and economic group.

Our grandmother, Ladi Kwali showed us many decades ago that through dedication everything is possible. With no formal education, she became a global sweetheart – traveling through European universities to deliver lectures about her craft and eventually bagging the highest British honor. Today, decades after her demise, Ladi Kwali is immortalized on our twenty naira (N20) note and with statues in different places across the country. We have more opportunities today than grandma Ladi Kwali had during her day. There is so much that we can achieve as a people, but we would never achieve our full potentials with a police force that harass, extort and murder us in our own country.

We refuse to remain silent while some lazy and hungry youths use us as their meal tickets. This is also a warning to sell-out activists who may want to take advantage of our parents in the villages. The Gbagyi people of Abuja have suffered enough from government negligence and from hyenas who take advantage of our sensibilities to line their pockets with coins. We are awoken to the important task of cleaning house and reclaiming our dignity as law-abiding Nigerians.

We will be going live on this platform to discuss this and other issues. Please join us.

God bless every Gbagyiza the world over
God bless Gbagyi Nation
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

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