The Network of Journalists on Indigenous Issues (NEJII) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently address long-standing political, economic and social concerns affecting the Abuja Original Inhabitants (AOIs), warning that failure to do so could trigger avoidable tensions in the Federal Capital Territory.
In a letter jointly signed by Adewale Adeoye and Usman Bako, NEJII said the appeal followed a week-long tour of more than 800 indigenous settlements spread across the FCT, where communities expressed their frustrations over decades of displacement and neglect.
According to the group, the indigenous peoples—Koro, Ganagana, Gbade, Ebira, Nupe, Gbayi, Bassa, Gwandara, Amwamwa, among others—continue to suffer forceful occupation of their ancestral lands without compensation, destruction of sacred sites and lack of economic or political recognition.
The journalists said the communities acknowledged the President’s appointment of an indigenous Abuja son, Zephaniah Jisalo, as a Federal Minister, describing it as a historic first and a sign of the administration’s willingness to correct past injustices.
Despite this, NEJII said the realities across indigenous communities remain distressing. Many children lack access to education, the group said, while families still depend on contaminated ponds for drinking water.
The group added that youth unemployment remains pervasive across the FCT’s rural belts, where many settlements also lack basic health facilities, access roads and sustainable energy sources.
They expressed concern that forests and trees essential for the survival of indigenous households are being destroyed by individuals allegedly acting under the cover of government authority.
NEJII noted that an estimated three million Abuja Original Inhabitants now live in remote outskirts of the FCT as a result of successive displacements since the enactment of the 1976 decree that transferred ownership of the Federal Capital from Lagos to Abuja.
The letter was formally submitted to Alhaji Tunde Rahman, Special Assistant to the President on Media, whom the communities described as a steadfast advocate for indigenous rights during his tenure as Abuja Bureau Chief of Punch Newspapers.
The group said the AOIs remain deeply troubled by historical injustices that have persisted since the military government of Gen. Murtala Mohammed ordered the relocation of the capital nearly 50 years ago.
They lamented that the original inhabitants have been marginalized, excluded from governance and treated “as strangers in their own homeland,” despite bearing the cultural and ancestral heritage of the territory.
While commending President Tinubu for breaking a long-standing barrier with the inclusion of an indigenous minister, NEJII insisted that genuine transformation requires legal reforms that recognise the full economic and political rights of AOIs.
Among their demands are the creation of an Abuja State, special education funds for indigenous children, return or compensation for lands seized by the Army and Air Force, and a probe into security-related abuses against indigenous communities.
They also requested special job opportunities for AOIs in FCT institutions and domestication of global frameworks such as the ILO Convention 169 and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
NEJII further urged the Presidency to set up a Special Panel to investigate decades of unpaid compensation, destruction of ancestral shrines and seizure of sacred territories since 1976.
The group stressed that globally recognised instruments—such as ILO Convention 169 and UNDRIP—affirm the land rights, cultural rights and development priorities of indigenous peoples, noting that Nigeria, as an ILO member since 1960, must uphold these standards.
The statement was signed by Adewale Adeoye and Usman Dogo.
