The House of Representatives member representing Abuja South Federal Constituency, Hon Zakari Angulu-Dobi, has written to President Muhammadu Buhari, urging him to consider appointing an indigene of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as a minister of the country.

In a letter dated 10th September, 2015, Angulu-Dobi stated that the letter became necessary as the issue of appointment of indigenes of the FCT has been on for a long time without due attention paid to it by successive governments.

He added that if one of the indigenes of the FCT is appointed as a minister, the people of the territory will have a sense of belonging and participation in the development of the country.

“To this end, the provision of Section 14(13) of our constitution is apt. It states that the compositions of the government of the federation or any of its agencies and conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no prominence of persons from states or groups in government or agencies,” he said.

He lamented that the people of FCT were being ostracised from the governance of Nigeria, adding that the constitution in Section 299 had put the FCT, Abuja on the same pedestal with the 36 states of the federation, which gave credence to the fact that an indigene of the FCT should be appointed as a minister.

“The FCT, Abuja ought to be taken into contemplation by also having her indigene in the federal cabinet. Subsection 3 of section 147 says: provided that in giving effect to the provisions aforesaid, the president shall appoint at least one minister from each state who shall be an indigene of such state.”