"We won’t vote for Buhari unless he appoints a minister from here" - Abuja Natives Declare

The actual natives of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have declared that they will not vote for President Muhammadu Buhari’s in the forthcoming election except he decides to appoint someone from their place as a minister.

Daily Trust reports that the natives said this while embarking on a peaceful protest at the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) in Abuja, on Thursday, January 17.

According to the report, the protesters barricaded the Aso drive linking the back gate to the SGF office.

They also carried placards with different inscriptions: ‘PMB forget our votes if we don’t have minister’, ‘It is one year now FG is disregarding court judgment on appointment of FCT indigene as minister’.

Yunusa Ahmadu Yusuf, the spokesperson for the group, explained that they decided to protest to the office of the SGF because President Muhammadu Buhari allegedly reneged on the promise he made in 2015 at a town hall meeting.

He claimed that at the meeting, Buhari promised that he would appoint a native as minister.

According to him, the Abuja natives have often been treated like second class citizens in their ancestral homes adding that this was unfortunate.

“We have sacrificed so much for Nigeria but today, they have turned us to second class citizens, while such cannot happen in Niger Delta. It is injustice of the highest order to the natives of the FCT,” he said. 

The protesters vowed not to vote for the president if he did not meet the promise

They added that the president should obey a court ruling that granted political appointment to natives of the FCT.

The report quoted a special assistant to the SGF, Ayuba Musa Burma, as commending the protesters for the peaceful manner they went about their grievance. 

He promised that he would channel their complaint to the right quarters.

Legit.ng earlier reported that Tunde Anifowose-Kelani, the national chairman of the Action Alliance (AA) declared that the party has decided to support the re-election bid of President Muhammadu Buhari as against Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). 

Anifowose-Kelani said in a statement the party did not adopt Atiku as was being claimed.