The former FCT Minister Late Mamman JiyaVatsa was a renowned poet. In 1982, he wrote. “Abuja was my town but the nation asked for her. I kept her and then gave the name to our nation. Suleja is now my town and Abuja our town. I once owned Abuja but now Abuja owns me”.
When the announcement for the transfer of thenation’s capital from Lagos to Abuja was made in 1976 the unsuspecting local indigenes were not in the least aware of how the erstwhile little town was going to shoulder that enormous responsibility. That was prior to the demarcation of the actual boundary of the FCT and the subsequent ecological survey of the territory.
It later became known that the actual Abuja town which is now Suleja was not going to be part of the FCT due to other dynamics. However,almost 80 percent of the total land area of the FCT was formerly part former Abuja Local Government of Niger State. The remaining 20 percent of the FCT was contributed by the former Keffi and Koton Karfe Local Governments of former Plateau and former Kwara States respectively.
It might have been a coincidence but the promulgation of the 1978 Land Use Decree and the creation of the new Federal Capital Territory and the process of acquiring the land for the use as FCT were pursued concurrently by the Federal Government. Being among the fore most casualties of the land use decree, one might not be wrong to assert that the acquisition of the land for the FCT must have informed the primary reason for the creation of the whole land use decree. Other reasons adduced notwithstanding.
Having acquired the land next was the name. The practice world over is to retain the original name of the land acquired for any new town, in the manner Canberra, Yamoussoukro and Dodoma were retained for Australia, Cote d’Ivoire and Tanzania. During the military era it only required an order from the Dodan Barracks to the NigerState military Governor Col. J.O Oni that the Federal Government requests the use of the name Abuja for its new Federal Capital. Implying that the name of the existing town had to be changed for the sake of identity otherwise it shall be confusing to have another Abuja for any other town or local government in Nigeria.
The Niger State government in turn directed that request to the Emir of Abuja his Royal Highness Late Alhaji Suleimanu Barau, who subsequently met with his council. Since Abujawas derived after Abubakar Jatau the name of the first Emir and founder of the town, the Emirate Council thus decided to adopt the name of Sulejafor the town, after Suleimanu Barau the reigning Emir when the FCT was created.
But for the change of the name, the Abuja Master Plan almost became a product of confusion, if not for the note placed by the IPA at the foot of preface page of the final report submitted to FCDA in 1979. It reads “IPA has been notified, after the publication of this report, that the name of the existing town of Abuja in Niger State will be changed to Suleja in order to avoid confusion with the name of the new Federal Capital City. Reference to ABUJA in this report denotes the existing city”.
With the name and land gone uncompensated while the meager amount approved for taking over its infrastructure and forestry investments only partly paid, the next demand was for land within Suleja for siting of the new constituted Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) Field Base, necessitated by the urgent need for accommodation for the pioneer staff of the Authority.
However, this time around it was to be on temporary basis, it was pledged that the whole estate shall be transferred to the host community when the FCDA finally leaves to the city after 4years. It was courtesy of the interaction between Malam Abdullahi Ladan, the Wazirin ZazzauSuleja, now a nonagenarian, who was the secretary of Suleja Local Government, and Alhaji AbubakarKoko, the first Executive Secretary of the FCDA.
From the beginning, before the appointment of a substantive Executive Secretary, Malam Ladanwas the FCDA accounting officer. He ensures that the Federal Government promise to Sulejacommunity on the Field Base was formalized and signed. The services of this nonagenarian to the nation are still unrecognized.
That promise was not kept until after 24 years. The whole estate was about to be sold in the sale of FG houses exercise. It took the SulejaDevelopment Association (SUDA) more than 4years to discover the signed document, which proved that the agreement was actually made.
After losing its name and land, the only legacy of their sacrifice to the actualization of the Abuja project as the New Federal Capital City is the FCDA Field Base. Definitely not only Sulejaindigenes, all right thinking Nigerians will never agree with the intention of the present Niger State Government that wants to seize and convert it to a market against the wish of Suleja people. This is a very high level injustice.
Suleja was the town that nurtured Abuja the Federal Capital city at its infancy, became its first satellite town, and absorber of its un-accommodated population, especially during major demolition exercises. It served the city before its creation and is still serving it now. It sacrificed its land, assets and finally, name, which was thesymbol of its identity to the nation. Unfortunately, while Abuja grows Suleja still groans, without adequate attention. Due to many environmental challenges and injustice.
