Afenifere cautions over indigeneship status in constitution amendment

Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, on Sunday, urged the National Assembly to go beyond the surface in its desire to reconsider the proposed amendment on indigeneship status for people living in particular locations in Nigeria.

National Publicity Secretary of the organisation, Mr. Jare Ajayi, stated this in a statement made available to journalists in Ibadan.

Speaker of House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, on March 8 said that the National Assembly would reconsider at least three proposed amendments to the 1999 Constitution that have been rejected by the House earlier on. This was sequel to protests by the womenfolk on the rejection of the said three proposed amendments.

The three amendments are those on gender bills, indigeneship and 35 per cent affirmative action in which women are asking for more space in the country’s political space.

Ajayi said that the Afenifere was very much in support of women in the country being treated equally and fairly like their male counterparts.

He, however, urged the lawmakers to ensure that in the amendment concerning indigeneship, a proviso is not inserted in the constitution that would surreptitiously make non-natives to supplant the indigenes of a particular space in the country.

“We are saying this against the background of the move by some people who are agitating that anyone who is born in a particular area or has lived in the area for 10 years be granted the indigeneship of the area in question.

“We agree, and indeed believe, that every Nigeria has a right to live in any part of the country. But we are also realistic enough to acknowledge the fact that every group anywhere in the world normally has a place that could be regarded as its native-land.

“The process or right to make such a claim derives from the linkage the group has with the ancestors who first settled in the given area,” the statement said.

Ajayi, who said that Afenifere was not against peaceful and harmonious co-habitation among tribes in any part of the country, called attention to the danger inherent in legally conferring indigeneship status on non-natives simply because they have lived for many years in the said area, adding that such a notion is at the root of several communal clashes in the country.

According to Afenifere, “what is desirable is residency right as is the case in countries we look up to, such as the United States (U.S.), Europe and the like.”