Original inhabitants of the FCT and residents have identified security and infrastructural upgrade as priorities that the new minister, Nyesom Wike, should focus on as he assumes.
Wike and other ministers are expected to be sworn-in by President Bola Tinubu today, Monday, August 21 in Abuja.
But as he assumes office he will not have a worship centre to perform his religious activities within the official residential lodge at Life Camp, The Abuja Inquirer can authoritatively report.
Information available to this newspaper indicates that the architectural design of the ‘Government House’ located at Life Camp, failed to incorporate a chapel for a Christian minister despite the existence of a Mosque used by past ministers including Nasir El-Rufai, Aliyu Modibbo, Adamu Aliero, Bala Muhammad and mostly recently, Muhammad Bello.
This religious imbalance has not been addressed since the capital city of Nigeria was moved from Lagos to Abuja for over 40 years ago.
Though the territory has had a number of Christian ministers like Chief Emeka Okoye, Mobolaji Adeogun, John Jatau and Jeremiah Husseini, most of them were either in office before the ministerial lodge was completed or were just sole administrators whose appointment were terminated even before they settled into office.
However, since the appointment of Governor Nyson Wike, as FCT minister by President Bola Tinubu, tongues have been wagging among residents of the territory as to where the Christian minister will perform his weekly religious activities as done in the Presidential Villa.
Most of the stakeholders in the FCT project who spoke to our correspondent have raised concerns over this “architectural oversight”, stating that it must be addressed by the incumbent FCT minister.
Arch. Williams Akpan, said nobody thought a Christian minister can be appointed to oversee the territory, hence they overlooked the issue of a chapel in Life Camp.
According to him, “If the architect fails to incorporate a chapel in the initial drawing, why is it that the thought has not crossed the minds of previous administrations since the movement from Lagos to Abuja?
“To me, I feel that nobody thought a Christian minister can be appointed to govern the FCT. For example, if a chapel is not built in Government House Sokoto, and if a Mosque is not built in Government House Asaba, Delta state, I will understand. But I cannot understand why the two dominant religion cannot be accommodated in the seat of government,” he queried.
Also speaking in the same vein, Barr. Chijoke Umeh, said the non-inclusion of a chapel in Life Camp was not an oversight by the architect but a deliberate plan by those who feel that power belongs to them.
“Please don’t try to convince me that the architect fails to incorporate a chapel in Life Camp. I will rather say it to your face and put it bluntly that it was a deliberate plan.
“We all know that the Federal Capital Territory is an extension of the Presidency. It is in our laws that the President is the Governor General of the Territory, but delegates his power to a minister. In the Villa, we have a Mosque and a Chapel for Muslim and Christian President, respectively. Then, why is it that we do not have the same in Life Camp?”
Another respondent who gave her name as Saratu Ahmed, insisted the development was an oversight and not deliberate given the chronology of the ministers since 1999.
She noted that the FCT is work in progress and so any minister cab decide to redesign the residential lodge to suit his or her religious interests.
“I don’t think the developers will intentionally want to sideline any group on religious grounds. The truth is all the ministers appointed since the residential lodge was completed have always been Muslims and probably that’s why they are yet to build a chapel in there.
“We also know that Christians hold congregational services based on their denominations and so, having an inter-denominational chapel in the minister’s lodge may end up not being used. I think that is why the need for a chapel has been overlooked for this long.”
Meanwhile, original inhabitants of the FCT received the news of the appointment of Governor Nyesom Wike as minister with excitement.
An indigenous group known as the Abuja Original Inhabitant Youth Empowerment Organization, AOIYEO, called on the former governor to replicate the infrastructural development he bequeathed to Rivers State in Abuja.
The group in a statement by its president, Isaac David, said it would be a disservice to the country to bring up someone who is not experienced on how to manage a capital city like Abuja.
They expressed confidence that with the background of the new minister, his giant strides in Port Harcourt would be replicated here in the FCT.
According to AOIYEO, “The development of Abuja in all ramifications required of somebody who is bold to maintain strict adherence to the Abuja master plan, restore normalcy in the area of security and strongly committed to nation building, all this, we have seen in Barr Nyesom Wike and we believe that he would repeat such traits in Abuja.
“Most importantly, we will urge the minister to carry along all Abuja indigenous stakeholders especially the youth in the scheme of running the government because proper understanding of complexity nature and structure of Abuja warrant that minister needs to work hand in hand with these original inhabitants and the residents for a successful tenure.”
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