*Faults Ethnic Discrimination
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A Plateau State High Court sitting in Jos has declared that a Hausa woman born and raised in Jos North Local Government Area is entitled to be recognised as an indigene of the area and issued a Certificate of Indigene.
Justice C. Donglong delivered the judgment in a suit filed by Fatima Baba Akawu and her father, Baba Alhaji Akawu, against Jos North Local Government Area over the refusal to issue an indigene certificate to the first claimant.
The claimants had approached the court after the local government allegedly denied Fatima a Certificate of Indigene and instead issued her a Residential Certificate.
They asked the court to determine whether Fatima, having been born in Jos North to a father who is a bona fide indigene of the area, was entitled to be recognised as an indigene and issued a Certificate of Indigene, notwithstanding her Hausa ethnic origin.
They also challenged the alleged discriminatory treatment by the local government, which reportedly issued a Residential Certificate to Fatima while issuing a Certificate of Indigene to one Dung Bot of Berom ethnic origin on the same date.
The applicants argued that the action violated Sections 42(1), 42(2), 15(2) and (5), 17(1), 17(2)(a) and 17(3)(a) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, as well as Articles 2 and 3 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
They further asked the court to determine whether the second claimant’s status as a bona fide indigene of Jos North Local Government Area and former member of the House of Representatives, who represented Jos North in the National Assembly in 1983, entitled his children, including Fatima, to be issued Certificates of Indigene.
The court was also asked to determine whether the Residential Certificate issued to Fatima is recognised under Nigerian law and whether it has any legal basis or effect in determining her entitlement to government opportunities or benefits reserved for indigenes of Jos North.
Delivering judgment, Justice Donglong resolved all four issues in favour of the claimants and granted their prayers.
The court held that the evidence placed before it was uncontroverted and that the originating summons was meritorious.
Justice Donglong said the court was moved by the constitutional duty to protect every Nigerian citizen from discrimination on the grounds of ethnic origin and circumstances of birth.
The judge held that the defendant’s conduct in issuing a Residential Certificate to Fatima, who is Hausa by ethnic origin, while issuing a Certificate of Indigene to Dung Bot, who is of Berom ethnic origin, on the same date and for the same application process, amounted to ethnic discrimination.
According to the court, the action was inconsistent with the letter and spirit of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended.
“This court is particularly moved by the constitutional imperative to protect every Nigerian citizen’s right to freedom from discrimination on grounds of ethnic origin and the circumstances of birth,” the judge held.
“The defendant’s conduct, by issuing a Residential Certificate to the 1st claimant, a Hausa by ethnic origin, while issuing a Certificate of Indigene to Dung Bot of the Berom ethnic origin, both on the same date for the same application, is a reprehensible act of ethnic discrimination that is inconsistent with the letter and spirit of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended.”
The court further declared that by virtue of the second claimant’s status as a bona fide indigene of Jos North Local Government Area and the provisions of Section 25(1)(a) and (b) of the Constitution, his biological children, including the first claimant, who were born and raised in Jos North, are entitled to be recognised as indigenes of the local government.
Justice Donglong also ordered that Fatima be issued a Certificate of Indigene accordingly.
The court further granted an order of perpetual injunction restraining Jos North Local Government Area, its agents, privies or delegates from issuing Residential Certificates to any person as a substitute for a Certificate of Indigene.
The judge held that such Residential Certificates are unknown to law, ultra vires, null and void.
The judgment is expected to generate public interest, especially in relation to citizenship rights, indigeneity, ethnic discrimination and access to government opportunities in Nigeria.
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