PRESIDENT JONATHAN'S RESPONSE

Since President Goodluck Jonathan has a page on Facebook, I decided to acquaint him with the recurring crises in Jos. I demanded for the abrogation of Decree 41 of 1991 through which IBB created Jos-North LGA. The opinions of the Afizere, Anaguta, Berom, Igbo, Yoruba, Urhobo and others, all large communities resident in Jos, were not considered by IBB's AFRC. I was pleasantly surprised when Pres. GEJ replied me. Below is his reply verbatim. However, it is obvious that our President is out of touch with the reality of our problem. Nobody wants to kick another person from any part of Nigeria. But some people have made themselves obnoxious and a pain to other Nigerians. This group has caused trouble in all parts of the country, from Shagamu to Calabar, from Ibadan to Yola, from Sokoto to Jos. I promised Mr. President that I will represent the problem to him using different words. Read on:

"I read your complaints about the Settler/Indigene dichotomy and many of you are calling for a constitutional amendment to solve this issue, however, the truth is that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has already abrogated that dichotomy for the simple reason that it does not recognise any difference between the two sets of people. If there is a difference as some insist, it is only in their minds and we must as Nigerians begin the peaceful processes of rebuilding the foundations of our citizenship. As far as our present Constitution is concerned, ALL Nigerian citizens are indigenes of any part of Nigeria. And our history is replete with a demonstration of this fact. For example the Great Zik of Africa won an election in Ibadan. Malam Umaru Altine was the first elected Mayor of Enugu and Felix Okonkwo (known as Okonkwo 'Kano') was a member of the Northern Nigeria House of chiefs. Since there is precedent for it in the past, we have to remove the glass ceiling in our minds that still believes in the Settler/Indigene dichotomy. Under the Nigerian Constitution, there is absolutely nothing stopping any Nigerian citizen who has taken residency in a state, town or ward from participating in the governance processes of that State, Town or Ward including contesting elections if the individual fulfils the constitutional requirements of residency and tax payment. If Nigerian immigrants can win City Council elections in the U.S, mayoral elections in Ireland and most recently Parliamentary seats in the British House of Commons, it should certainly be possible for a Nigerian with ancestral origins from Sokoto to win an election in Port Harcourt and vice versa. As I said, the Nigerian Constitution permits it, there are precedents for it and the only thing we have to do is to give effect to our constitutional rights which speak to our unity and our collective aspirations for peaceful co-existence and greatness."