By Muhammad Sabiu - Kaduna In a development that caught many unawares, the Christians, Non-Hausa/Fulani from the Southern part of Ka...
By Muhammad Sabiu - Kaduna
In a development that caught many unawares, the Christians,
Non-Hausa/Fulani from the Southern part of Kaduna state and its rival Northern
Muslim Hausa/Fulani dominated part of Northern Kaduna, have agreed for the
split of Kaduna State into two new states.
Speaking during the presentation and defence of their memos
at the Senate ad-hoc Committee and the House of Reps Special Committee on the
Review of the 1999 Constitution at the Hassan Katsina House on Wednesday who
has been engaged in infamous inter-ethnic and religious clashes for decades,
said creating new states from the present Kaduna State will go a long way at
solving the bloody violence that seemed to defy solution.
The President of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU),
Hon. Jonathan Asake, who defended the memo of Southern Kaduna people said: “The
wish of Southern Kaduna is to have a brand new constitution, not an amended
one,” he said.
“But in the absence of that, we are here to make our inputs
as a people who have suffered suppression and oppression for a long time,” he
said.
“Southern Kaduna is made up of 67 ethnic nationalities
spread in 13 of the 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Kaduna state. It has a
landmass of 26,000kmsq with an estimated population of 5.1 million. We are
endowed with an educated population and with abundant natural resources,” he
said.
“Our land size is greater than that of Kano state which has
a landmass of 20,000kmsq. Yet Kano is a state of its own with 44 LGAs. Our
population is greater than 21 other states of the federation,” he went on. “We
are demanding for the amendment of the provision of section 8 of the
constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which makes it almost an
impossible task for the creation of a new state,” he insisted.
“We have been demanding for a state of our own for over
thirty years and Gurara state was among the 18 states proposed in the 2014
Confab report,” he said.
“We are demanding for the creation of the Gurara state after
the amendment. This will help in solving the incessant conflicts between our
people and the other divide,” he said.
SOKAPU also asked for the removal of the Land Use Act from
the Constitution and its amendment as a law, so that communities and families
can have larger control of the ancestral lands.
“We stand by all the 2014 confab report which had captured
most of our demands.
In the same vein, the Northern part of Kaduna State, under
the aegis of Kaduna Development Elders Initiatives submitted a memo signed by
the Senators Representing Kaduna North Senatorial Zone, Sen. Sulieman Abdu
Kwari; the Senator Representing Kaduna Central Senatorial zone, Senator Uba
Sani; all the House of Reps members from the Northern Part of Kaduna; all
members of Kaduna state house of Assembly from the northern part of Kaduna
their Chairmen of LGAs and Councillors.
Defending the memo of the group, Abdulkadir Ahmed said, “we
are canvassing for the creation of New Kaduna state from the present Kaduna
state and we want the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria amended
to make this possible.”
“Kaduna South has been complaining of marginalisation ever
since, even though Chiefdoms have been given to them and they occupy 60% of the
workforce of Kaduna state,” he added.
“Let the state be split and if they are asking for Gurara
state, let them have it,” he said.
“This will solve all the crises we have been having in this
state,” he added.
“On our part, we are asking for the creation of ‘New Kaduna
State’, which will include Kaduna North and Kaduna Central Senatorial zones,”
he said.
“But there should be a referendum for each section of the
state to decide on where it wants to belong,” he added.
Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, who declared the
meeting open, also asked for true Federalism, State Police and Financial
Autonomy to Local Government Councils.
The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Kabiru Gaiya from
Kano State, in his opening remarks assured all that each of the memos will be
well looked into and submitted to the National Assembly for further actions.
Many groups and individuals also submitted memos as the
sitting continues till Friday.
No comments