MEMORANDUM SUBMITTED TO THE PRESIDENTIAL COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL CONFERENCE BY THE GURARA PATRIOTS FOUNDATION ON 11th NOVEMBER 2013 AT ITS SITTING IN KADUNA THE GURARA PATRIOTS FOUNDATION is a group made-up of the Aborigines of Nations of the areas of Southern Kaduna now comprised in the ‘Kaduna State’ portion of the Middle-Belt. Introduction and Background Ever since British Imperialism stole away the sovereign independence of the autonomous Communities from where our members are drawn, our histories have been histories of a deep struggle for emancipation from the structures of imperialism enacted by the unjust policies of the Colonial Masters. Our territories were invaded; our warriors were massacred in unequal confrontations, our sacred lands and indigenous institutions were desecrated progressively, and increasingly placed under the power of our historic enemies who had waged several largely unsuccessful jihads into the territories of our people. The British Colonialists in their racist influenced thinking, subjected our indigenous systems, institutions and cultures to the Emirate based Indirect Rule structures. There has been a sustained systematic attempt to subject our peoples and cultures to cultural imperialism under the Hausa-Fulani culture. Through these eleven decades from about 1900 to date, our identities and human dignity have been subjected to inhumanity and impoverishment. From the 1900s to 1960, it was the British subjecting our identities to Hausa-Fulani cultural Imperialism alongside British Imperialism, AND FROM 1960 TO DATE, it has been the sustenance of Hausa-Fulani internal colonialism with limited ad-hoc measures taken to redress the systemic injustices. While other Africans suffered British colonialism, our peoples of the Middle Belt identities and Southern Kaduna were subjected to 2 kinds of colonialism: 1. British Colonialism and 2. Internal, Hausa-Fulani Colonialism The unjust structures established to subjugate our identities include the elevation of Hausa-Fulani settler/trading communities within our territories into centres of colonial indirect rule and therefore indirect ‘rulers’ over us, the indigenous peoples who were given these territories by God and the Ancestors. Also, Lugard established Kaduna City within our territories in 1908 as contained in his 1919 Amalgamation Reports, at time when only the Gbagyi aborigines who own the land were dwelling there, but colonial structures have been used to steal our lands, impoverish our peoples and engage in mass atrocities against our people, especially the following: 1. Ethnocide- non recognition and mention of our identities in Nigeria’s constitution, making it lack legitimacy, as well as efforts to assimilate and wipe out our indigenous identities; 2. Linguacide-the systemic marginalisation of our languages through the imposition of Hausa and its misrepresentation as being ‘Indigenous’; 3. Genocide- the killing of our people en-mass both during and after the colonial rule of the British, and anytime our people resisted social injustice, they were killed sometimes with government complicity as demonstrated during the Zamani-Lewot Travesty Trials under the General Ibrahim Babangida regime; 4. Cultural Impositions- the imposition of Hausa-Fulani/Muslim traditional institutions over our peoples and territories both directly and indirectly, a trend that has continued to the present. This has largely involved the ignoring of our indigenous institutions and structures, and the imposition of Hausa-Based structures and outlook over our people, identity symbols that will never be indigenous to us 5. Territorial Robbery and encroachment- this has involved the use of the ‘Nigeria’ structures to deprive us on ancestral territories, but we wish to state that Imperial, Colonial and post-colonial title over our lands have no legitimacy, and therefore those titles have expiry dates, if indeed they have not already expired. In indigenous, ancestral terms however (Whether or not understood by the colonial and post-colonial states), INDIGENOUS TITLE TO LAND IS DIVINE, ETERNAL, IMMUTABLE UN-IMPEACHABLE, TIMELESS AND SURPASSES EVERY ILLEGITIMATE IMPOSITION, and our people shall never forget or give-up indigenous title to ancestral land dating thousands of years. Based on this, GURARA PATRIOTS hereby makes submissions on the Terms of Reference of your able committee as follows: 1.1. Composition of the Dialogue/Conference Without question, the conference should be composed of all Ethnic Nations in Nigeria, to be given the chance on equal basis, to air their views so as to allow for a sense of belonging and a right to be heard. 1.2 How delegates will attend the conference We would suggest that delegation should be by election. All identified Ethnic Nations should elect their representatives to the conference. 1.3. Size of the Dialogue/Conference Identifiable Ethnic Nations ONLY should attend. 2. LEGAL FRAMEWORK All enabling laws towards a Constituent Assembly with Full Ethno-National Representation for a new socio-political structure and a new constitution where all Nations however many, are EQUAL PARTNERS AND STAKEHOLDER IF NIGERIA IS TO HAVE ANY LEGITIMACY 3. DURATION Twelve (12) months subject to the outcome of informed planning 4. ISSUES TO BE TABLED BEFORE THE DIALOGUE/CONFERENCE (I) Structure of government should be federal and must recognise identities of Ethnic Nations within the constitution directly. This is necessary because of the long history of marginalization, discrimination and exclusion of Indigenous Identities in ‘Nigeria’ and ‘Northern Nigeria’. (II) System of Government should be multi-level and reflect the identities that consent to be part of the new system. (Iii) Delineation of Constituencies should respect identities: There should be no disenfranchisement of any groups in the process; (Iv) Devolution of Powers: More powers should be passed to the component units down to the grassroots. (V) Ownership and control over natural resources (Vi) Land Tenure and Land Ownership: The land tenure should be discussed with the aim of meeting historic justice and conferring it with legitimacy. (Vii) The use of Armed Forces and the control of the Nigeria Police. (Viii) Settler/Indigeneship: This should be settled without imperialistic designs that confiscate indigenous rights and titles, and aboriginality is not the anomaly, but the quest to dispossess indigenous peoples of their inalienable rights and entitlements; (ix) The cultural and religious identity outlook of traditional institutions in the middle belt be freed from the Hausa-Fulani colonially imposed imperialistic outlook. (X) Self-determination by communities: communities must be given the rights to run their communities according to their traditions and cultures. The deliberate exclusion to participate in the affairs of state and country should be looked into; (xi) Imposition of religious laws in Northern Nigeria should be scrapped or new boundaries raised to limit these exclusively to the domains of the historic Hausa States located in Hausa land, and these be absolutely not applicable to non-Muslims under any circumstances, with or without consent; (xii) Immigration should be checked and indigenous communities must have a say on how ctheir territories are dealt with (xiii) All relevant issues that redress the injustices against indigenous identities and establish a just and equal constitutional system as pre-requisite for any form of valid moral legitimacy; 5. Legal procedures and options for integrating the outcomes of the dialogue/conference into the constitution and the laws if the land: This should be by way of a Constituent Assemble set up, and the passage of the new constitution to emerge through a Referendum or Plebiscite GURARA PATRIOTS FOUNDATION welcomes this initiative by President Goodluck Jonathan, and we sincerely look forward to a restructuring and re-organisation of the emerging order in whatever shape or composition. We hope that this process will be carried to its logical conclusion to avoid the continuation of the problems listed by the President in his 2013 Independence Anniversary Address. Our people shall never cease or give-up the struggle for social justice, genuine equality and the return to full humanity. For us, to give up is to cease being alive. GURARA PATRIOTS FOUNDATION Vincent Bodam Jerry Adams Chancellor Secretary General
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 03:07:32 +0000
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