Wants urgent restructuring of the country, instead
The pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, has called for caution over a bill seeking to confer indigene-ship on a person who has stayed in a particular place for upward of 10 years “to avoid the possibility of aggravating ethnic tension and violence”.
The organisation’s position was contained in statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi.
It would be recalled that the House of Representatives recently passed for a second reading, some bills for the amendments of certain sections of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution (as amended), including the indiegene status bill, sponsored by the Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu and six other lawmakers.
The Indigenes Status Bill seeks to grant indigenous status and rights on anyone who has lived in a particular area for 10 years or on a woman who is married to an indigene of the area.
Also on Tuesday this week (April 1, 2025), the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, advocated the elimination of the policy that tends to draw a distinction between indigenes and non-indigenes in any part of Nigeria.
He made the call when he paid the Id-el-Fitr Sallah homage to Governor Aliyu of Sokoto State in Sokoto.
The Sultan went further to urge state Governors in Nigeria to emulate Governor Ahmed Aliyu by abolishing the non-indigene status in their respective states ‘in the interest of national cohesion’.
The Indigene Status Bill seeks to alter relevant sections of the Constitution to guarantee indigene status to a person by reason of birth or continuous residence for a period of not less than ten years or by reason of marriage.
Specifically, the bill “seeks to alter Section 31 of the Principal Act by inserting new subsections to wit: (2) – (5).
“(2) A citizen of Nigeria is an indigene of a State if he was born in that State and has lived in the State for a continuous period of at least 10 years; or was not born in the State but has resided in a Local Government Area of that State for a continuous period of at least 10 years and can provide evidence of tax payment in that State for at least 10 years.”
“(3) A person under subsection (2) of this section is entitled to apply to the Local Government Chairman for a certificate of indigeneship of a State.
“4) A woman who is married to an indigene of a State different from her State of origin for at least five years becomes an indigene of that State and is entitled to all rights and privileges of an indigene of that State in cases of employment, appointment or election into any political or public office.
(5) In the case of divorce or death of a spouse, a woman remains an indigene if there were children born of the marriage or not; or she elects to remain an indigene of that State.”
According to Afenifere, in modern times, there are basically four categories of residents in any particular state or country.
“They are indigenes otherwise called natives, citizens, residents and visitors. Ordinarily, anyone staying in a country is a resident of that country while other criteria would then determine whether he or she is a visitor, resident, citizen or indigene. A person who came in originally as a visitor can gain permanent residence status after meeting certain conditions. The permanent resident may become a citizen after meeting specific criteria.
“However, indigene-ship is restricted to people with ancestral, cultural, autochthonous and historical roots to the soil on which they dwell. In various parts of the world, indigeneity is tied to ancestry, historical connection to the land, language, customs and cultural heritage” Afenifere spokesman submitted,” Afenifere argued.
Examples were cited of countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand and even the United States of America where the new President Donald Trump “is trying to further redefine who are the citizens of America” to emphasize that there is a distinction between the four categories of residents in any particular country as listed above,” according to Afenifere.
Maintaining that the kind of alteration being sought by the lawmakers and the Sultan will aggravate mutual mistrust in the country and may further engender communal clashes, Ajayi recalled that a similar move was made in the year 2020 by the then Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege.
In March of that year, Omo-Agege sponsored “A Bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to define who is an indigene of a State and for related matters, 2020”.
“As is the case with the one being presently pushed by Kalu and others, the bill sought to provide for indigeneship by application just as it tried to amend sections 31 and 318 of the 1999 Constitution as amended. The attempt then failed,” Afenifere recalled.
Afenifere is of the opinion that the motive behind the push for indigeneship could flow from hegemonic desire, territorial expansion, changing status of the land, ecology and the desire for power and influence.
“Whatever was the motive for the bill, it must not be pursued at the expense of natives of a given area and certainly not at the risk of igniting ethnic clashes that will claim lives and properties”.
The statement recalled that up till today, clashes are occurring in various parts of the country between indigenes and settlers “mainly because those who are supposed to take necessary actions failed to do so due to their own personal biases and dishonesty”.
Afenifere spokesman concluded by calling on the National Assembly not to pass the said bill “but concentrate efforts at restructuring the country in such a way that every part would have a sense of belonging and be in a position to determine its own affairs as much as possible within a truly federal Nigeria nation”.
