Natives of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have said that elective positions in the territory are not the exclusive preserve of Abuja natives.
The group, under the aegis of Abuja Natives Vanguard, in a press statement signed by the coordinator, Comrade Joseph Shekwolo Jonah, canvassed for opening up the political space for other ethnic nationalities to contest for the various elective positions in 2019 general elections.
The group warned that residents of the territory should not make their choices based on ethnicity or religion, stressing that the overall objective was development of the city irrespective of tribe or religion.
On the election of natives into different political offices, Jonah observed that most of the politicians elected were in offices for selfish interest.
“The division among our leaders in the Federal Capital Territory has done us more harm than good. Having been elected by us, they immediately assumed family governance and personal wealth acquisition leaving us to wallow in abject poverty.
“Rather than facing the political, economic and social challenges our people pass through day in, day out, they turn blind eye to them and keep fooling us that government has no allocation to meet our common demands.
“The 2019 general elections, the peaceful original inhabitants of the FCT are not necessarily looking for their own as flag bearers of all the political parties. We have wined and dined with our own over the past few years and there is the need that we open up opportunities for even non-indigenes who possess the qualities to turn around our fortunes economically.
“Most stakeholders of the original inhabitants have only paid lip-service to our collective issues and by their inactiveness, we are more resolute and determined to reject them at the polls,” the statement added.
