FCT’s Indigenous Peoples Cry For Justice At UN Session: CHRICED Raises Alarm Over Systemic Dispossession
At the 18th Session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples held in Geneva, Dr. Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi, Executive Director of the Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED), made an impassioned appeal on behalf of Abuja’s Original Inhabitants (OIs), urging global attention to what he described as their worsening plight.
Representing nine tribes and seventeen chiefdoms, over two million indigenous peoples of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nigeria’s seat of power, continue to face systemic exclusion, political disenfranchisement, and cultural extinction decades after their ancestral lands were forcefully taken under Military Decree No. 6 of 1976.
Dr. Zikirullahi, who addressed the session alongside six delegates with support from the MacArthur Foundation, said successive Nigerian governments have failed to compensate or resettle the Original Inhabitants, despite court rulings affirming their rights.
He decried the lack of inclusive policies, stressing that Abuja’s indigenous communities are denied basic amenities such as healthcare, education, clean water, and infrastructure.
Even more troubling is their political invisibility they cannot elect a governor or state legislature, rendering them virtually stateless in their own land.
“Development must never come at the cost of dispossession or cultural extinction,” Dr. Zikirullahi said. “Justice delayed is dignity denied.”
He called on the UN Expert Mechanism, member states, and relevant stakeholders to pressure the Nigerian government to formally recognise the OIs as Indigenous Peoples, ensure their political inclusion, and adopt inclusive, data-driven policies to promote their socio-economic wellbeing and cultural survival.
He particularly underscored the urgent need for indigenous data sovereignty—stressing that without accurate and disaggregated data, Abuja’s OIs remain invisible in national development efforts.
The CHRICED call comes at a critical time as indigenous voices across the globe continue to push for recognition, justice, and a future built on respect and equality.
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