By Ibrahim Habu Suleiman
The question of indigeneship has continued to haunt the political terrain in the country. This is notwithstanding the fact that the world community has transformed into a unilateral entity through globalisation in spite of Brexit and the neo-nationalistic hollas of US President Trump.
It is rather pathetic that the term indigene has remained such a key weapon in the hands of politicians, particularly those otherwise largely bereft of the wherewithal to make any positive mark. Nasarawa State has also been caught up in this indigene – non-indigene brouhaha. This problem started rearing its ugly head before the primaries when some key APC aspirants were being touted as non-indigenes and now the opposition (PDP and co.) have found a ready weapon to attack the APC flagbearer – Engr Abdullahi A. Sule as a non-indigene.
To begin with, what is indigene? Oxford Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary firstly defines indigenous as “belonging to a particular place rather than coming to it from somewhere else.” Meanwhile an indigene is “a person or thing that is indigenous.” Nevertheless the term indigene in Nigeria’s political terrain has been accorded a more negative colouration. But there is still no doubt that an indigene is by implication also a native of a particular place. At any rate, the world being a global village today has recorded massive movements or migration of people from one part of the world to another or from one part of a country to another on a daily basis and now wherever they go to they must belong to some community or the other. These movements/migration could be for economic, political, social and many other reasons.
All these socio-political and economic activities have tended to negate the term indigene or even native to something or someone still lagging. Thus, inasmuch as individuals must inevitably belong to one community or the other in any given society it behoves that to insist on being an indigene or a native for a citizen has become rather old fashioned or retrogressive.
Moreover Constitutions have been known to guide the actions and inactions of the people in any given society. A constitution is therefore a body of fundamental laws governing people – leaders and the led alike – for the peaceful and harmonious wellbeing of all irrespective of tribe, religion, creed or place of origin. Thus, the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in outlining who is a citizen has not stated that only natives are citizens, but that a citizen (by birth) ought to belong to an indigenous community. Hence there is citizenship by birth, by registration and citizenship by naturalisation. Unfortunately a lot of people assume that there is supposed to be a kind of caste system in our society today whereby the citizenship of an individual is only determined according to the duration of time the indigenous community he/she belongs to has spent in any given place. Therefore, people are still referred to as non-indigenes even though for over a century or for centuries they have lived and directly controlled their community politically, economically, culturally and so on.
Now it appears that certain political (or politicalised) groups in the state have resorted to whipping up sentiments on the indigene – non-indigene brouhaha, obviously for want of any other tangible issues to campaign with. In fact, over ninety percent of ethnic groups in the country have a history of having migrated from somewhere else. The Fulani people are the most notorious ethnic group considered to be settlers or non-indigenes simply because they are largely nomadic. But the Yorubas, Igbos and even ethnic groups like the Tiv, Kanuri, etc all tend to claim that their ancestors one way or the other migrated from somewhere else. So apparently it isn’t only about coming from somewhere else but whether or not on arrival they have been able to make themselves fully at home.
Responding on the insinuations by political foes that he isn’t an indigene, Engr A.A.Sule stated that the persons responsible for such outlandish allegations have taken Gudi Station in Akwanga Local Government Area out of Nasarawa State. Otherwise, according to him his grandparents did not only found Gudi town, but his father is still the paramount leader of the community for the past 50 years, adding that his father signs indigeneship Certificates to persons belonging to that community. “Once you are able to take Gudi out of Nasarawa State,” he explained, “then you have taken me out, so I’m not an indigene.” In any case, on the APC flag-bearer’s qualifications to run for the governorship of the state and God willing even occupy the position, section 177 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria states: “A person shall be qualified for election to the office of Governor of a state if – a) he is a citizen of Nigeria by birth; b) he has attended the age of 35 years; c) he is a member of a political party, and d) he has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.” Apparently there appears to be no doubt about all that. Isn’t it? At any rate, doubting Thomases would continue to abound in our midst.
Furthermore, the same Constitution encapsulates what being a citizen by birth entails in section 25 (1) “every person born in Nigeria before the date of independence, either of whose parents or any of whose grandparents belongs to or belonged to a community indigenous to Nigeria. Provided that a person shall not become a citizen of Nigeria by virtue of this section if neither of his parents nor any of his grandparents was born in Nigeria.” adherents adherents of this non-indigene brouhaha tend to forget that as Christians and Muslims we are all coming from Adam. Hence, we are one big family irrespective of tribe, colour, religion, creed and place of origin.
In fact one begins to wonder whether opponents of the state APC flag-bearer, Engr A.A. Sule have actually conceded defeat even before 2019. Or it appears they are still in total disarray as to how to enliven the political arena in the state – to face the man’s formidable credentials as the most exposed, versatile and the most experienced professional in the pack. So if you cannot beat him square, then you simply destroy him so that you can win. Outlandish!
At any rate we must not lose sight of the issue at stake here. The people of Nasarawa State would not want a governor at this point in time who would need baby sitters to be able to succeed. Apologies to the newly enacted law on not too young to rule. In fact we need an experienced, visionary, competent, reliable, intelligent and credible person with unblemished integrity. And it appears the APC says they have such an individual in the person of Engr Abdullahi A. Sule, a person who has traversed the length and breadth of this world in his practical professional work as a reputable engineer – not as a larkey of some sort.
It now behoves on the other parties (PDP and co.) to sort out themselves by presenting a competent individual to the electorate that has better qualities than what the APC has produced or better still, just shut up. Enough of this indigene – non-indigene brouhaha