Planned Protests: Wike holds town hall meeting with FCT residents 

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Barr. Nyesom Wike on Saturday held an interactive town hall meeting with residents as part of the peace-building process in the nation’s capital.

Speaking at the meeting, which was in the light of the planned protests across the country, the minister cautioned youths in the FCT against aligning with those he described as faceless protesters.

Wike noted that the meeting was organised to provide an avenue for dialogue with various stakeholders in the territory and also to allow them to air their grievances rather than taking to the streets to protest against the government.

The minister, who observed that protests would not solve any problem but would rather create an opportunity for hooligans to take advantage of the situation to foment trouble, warned that the FCT Administration will not allow any protest geared towards destruction or to overthrow the government.

Acknowledging that FCT residents have the constitutional right to protest, the minister however cautioned that such protests must be done within the ambit of the law, the minister noted that “protests do not solve any problem. Protests rather create more problems because hooligans, hoodlums would always want to take advantage to foment problems and create crises.” 

Reacting to the purported written requests for permission to protest at the Eagle Square in the FCT, the minister, who said he only heard about the request on social media and television, added that any request to protest in the FCT must be addressed to his office, adding that certain conditions must also be fulfilled before the requests are granted.

“Who are these people who want to protest? I’m just reading on social media that they’ve applied to me to grant the Eagle Square. Do you apply to me through social media? You will write a letter to the Minister. Who are you? I will see you. What do you want to do? How many days do you want to spend? How much will you pay?

“When people want to do propaganda in everything; I watched them on Channels News telling the IG I have applied. You don’t apply to me through Channel. You must apply properly. You must pay what they call security cost so that if there is any damage with the facilities, we take that security cost and repair.

“We don’t just give people just because you have applied. You will fulfill the condition,” he said.

Wike, who concluded that peace is necessary for the development of any society, added that said everything possible would be done to ensure that peace is maintained in the FCT.

He therefore thanked the stakeholders in the FCT, including traditional rulers, religious leaders, civil society organisations and representatives of youth groups, as well as women leaders for their support to the FCT Administration and for committing to peace building in the FCT and assured of continued dialogue with residents.

Reacting to a requests for inclusion of women and youths in governance in the FCT, the minister stated that the youth and women have been adequately represented in his cabinet with appointments as Mandate Secretaries and other key positions and assured that they would not be abandoned in subsequent appointments.

“If you check in our cabinet, it’s made of youths too. The coordinator of the Satellite Towns is a Youth. The Mandate Secretary of Area Council is a Youth. The General Council is a Youth. So, if you have an eight-member cabinet, you have three as youths, then you cannot say the youths have not been carried along,” he said.

The minister also stated that following the establishment of the FCT Civil Service Commission and the subsequent reforms of the Service, four out of the ten staff appointed as Permanent Secretaries are women.   

On the request for the creation of a Youth Secretariat in the FCT Administration, the minister assured that he would forward the request to President Bola Tinubu, adding that the Secretariat would be established upon approval by the president.

The minister who also noted that the FCT, for the first time, has their son as a Minister in the Federal cabinet, said the appointment of a non-indigene to represent the FCT in the Public Complaints Commission will be brought to the attention of the President for correction.

He further disclosed that the FCT Administration would soon commence the construction of police stations in the various Area Councils in the FCT as has been requested and assured of the continued provision of infrastructure in the Abuja city and the satellite towns.

In her address, the Minister of State for FCT, Dr Mariya Mahmoud thanked the residents for their support and willingness to collaborate with the FCT Administration, assuring that the FCTA will continue to work with them to foster peace and development.

  Earlier in his remarks, the chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council, AMAC, Christopher Maikalangu thanked the Minister for organising the town hall meeting and for giving FCT residents the opportunity to air their grievances.

The AMAC chairman said the cumulative grievances in the country could only be solved by constructive engagements and urged FCT residents to shelve the planned protest, adding that the government was committed to addressing the challenges in the country.

In his remark, the Ona of Abaji, Dr Adamu Yunusa, who spoke on behalf of the 17 graded chiefs of the FCT also thanked the FCT Minister for organizing the town hall meeting and for providing an opportunity for interaction with residents of the FCT.

Also speaking, the Chief Imam of Area 10 Mosque, Yahaya Ayo stressed the importance of peace in the development and economic growth of the FCT and assured that the worship centres in the FCT will not be part of the planned protests, even as he pledged to continue to pray for the peace and progress of the country.

For his part, the representative of the FCT chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor JB Michael thanked the FCT Minister for his transformative efforts in the FCT and called for meaningful engagement of the youths to rightly channel their energy into productive activities.In his remarks, chairman of Abuja branch of National Youth Council of Nigeria, Suleiman Ango also thanked the FCT Minister for organising the town hall engagement, and revealed that Nigerian youths, following several meetings, have unanimously agreed that there would be no protest in the FCT while the president of National Council for Women Societies, NCWS, Hajia Hadiza, said FCT women were against the planned protests which she said would cause more harm than good.

She acknowledged the transformative efforts of the Minister in the FCT and called for further interactions with the minister.