A CRACK may have surfaced among the once united natives of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) over the Abuja Land Swap scheme introduced by the FCT Administration, as the Ketti-Waru Youth Forum has taken a swipe on the Original Inhabitants Development Association (OIDA) for "lack of foresightedness."
This came as the House of Representatives last Thursday adopted a motion that sought to investigate alleged irregularities in the scheme and other mass housing programmes introduced from 2010 to date by the FCT Administration.
OIDA, the umbrella body of the indigenous people of the FCT, had last Wednesday kicked against the land swap model initiated by the FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed, and had a protest march to the National Assembly to register their grievances over the rejection of mayoralty seat for the territory as well as the alleged usurpation of their ancestral land by the Federal Government.
However, in a swift reaction at the weekend, the Ketti-Waru Youth Forum distanced itself from that position, saying the rejection of mayoralty was a different issue from the land swap scheme introduced to facilitate infrastructural development in the territory.
Arising from a stakeholders' meeting last Friday, the President of Ketti-Waru Youth Forum, Abubakar Yakubu, said the mayoralty being agitated for by OIDA has nothing to do with the FCT Land Swap infrastructural development.
The forum pledged to support the administration's programmes, which it said, were geared towards the development of the territory, and commended Mohammed and his team for "their visionary leadership in the land swap for infrastructure development."
According to Yakubu, the issue of mayoralty being canvassed by OIDA is constitutional, while the land swap initiative is aimed at facilitating the rapid development of the territory. He said: "We are more concerned about policies that will bring development to our people, and we strongly believe that the land swap policy is one of such policies.
"We equally support the creation of more area councils and senatorial districts to bring development to the indigenous people. We are totally in support of the call for the indigenous people to be appointed as ministers, special advisers and board members of both FCT and federal parastatals."
Also, the National President of the forum, Isaac Shekwolo David, said in an interview at the weekend that his people have finally risen above deception by external forces to appreciate the huge advantages and opportunities land swap offers them.
He said: "We welcome the government policy because there is no way you can hold government to ransom in terms of development. If past administrations made errors in the development of the FCT, that does not mean the present administration will also do like that.
"Moreover, the resettlement committee is still sitting and after the collation of data through enumeration and demographic survey, we will come back to a round table and decide what will be done to the communities, whether to relocate or integrate."
The Guardian