Have you ever really wonder why
Abuja is the Capital of Nigeria? I mean out of all the 36 states. Well, I
use to ask this question. What makes it deserves that royal title? I
don't know but here is a clue.
Abuja is located in the centre of
Nigeria, within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Abuja is
a planned city, and was built mainly in the 1980s. I mean even the
public toilet built in the city is already in the grand plan. It
officially became Nigeria's capital on 12 December 1991, replacing Lagos,
though the latter remains the country's most populous city.
Abuja wasn’t chosen as the Capital of
Nigeria. The town known as Abuja is actually the place currently called Suleja.
In 1976 a huge virgin land in the centre of Nigeria was curved out from Kaduna,
Niger, Nassarawa, and Kogi States and called Federal Capital Territory. The
center of this place was then identified as the place to build a befitting city
and made the capital of Nigeria. The Myth said the place must be equal in
distance from all the four corners of the country.
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| Diary of a Lazy Photographer, Forever taking picture inside a moving car. lol |
A name was then searched for the city.
The indigenes of the land sequested volunteered the name of the town that
housed all the surveyors and workers who searched for the land which was then
Abuja. They relinquished the name and took the new name of Suleja after the
name of their Emir who was called Suleman
From then on the construction of the
new city called Abuja started. The Westerners were not responsive at first so
didn’t bother to acquire lands, the Northerners couldn’t be bothered either but the
Easterners were far more sighted commercially and acquired more lands than
other Nigeria.
Movement from Lagos to Abuja was very
slow because of the earlier resistance from the Westerners till 1995 when
Abacha ordered every Federal Ministry and MDAs TO RELOCATE to Abuja within a
stipulated time. Yeah,……… well the Rest is History I won’t want to bore you
with. I will love to tell you more about Abuja but...lol go and check Google
ooo.
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| Random picture of people waiting at MMA2 Airport, Looks like a scene from an Igbo movie. right? |
So I decided I wanted my next blog to be about Abuja so I
carried my luggage’s and head straight to the airport at my earliest opportunity (This is not me forming I
actually have phobia for height but Lagos to Abuja was just too far
so....) Landed around 8:00pm and the cab fare from the airport to my Uncle's place in Gwarinpa
was a whole Nigeria 5500naira currency. lol. ( I cursed the cab man a bit but I knew
it wasn’t his fault, our currency has lost so much value. It’s shameful) and
these town is the most expensive of them all.
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| Despite the urge to always puke on my Seat mate as usual, i managed to drag my camera out to take this one picture of Lagos-Abuja Skyline |
Abuja is surrounded by well-formed
Landscapes and tall mountains, kinda looks like Ekiti-State’s own. I supposed
that's the reason the city is cold and yes beautiful. We are all familiar
with the Zuma rock, Central mosque, Sheraton hotel views and photographs of
them as well that is always constantly showcased to the people but as a low
key tourist like me, these are the places i visited.
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| Jabi Lake, is an artificial lake in ABJ. A quiet peaceful place to chill, REALLY. |
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| My rocking Horse man. Rode on this Pretty lady for a while and this nice man didn't collect a dime. |
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| Cute Couples |
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| Reflection |
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| Iya Oyo Bukateria hahaha. cheap and very nice swallows. After spending 2k per meal for the first two days a friend gisted me about here. Thanks for saving my life Dear Friend |
To answer my own question Abuja has
been moulded to turn into a beautiful, but expensive cute city. The roads are
almost perfect and the streets are so clean, there is nothing jaga jaga bou the
city*in Eedris Abdulkareem voice* compared to some under developed state
in Nigeria. I think it deserved the big title.
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Landscapes, Abuja
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Despite all skyscrapers building in
the city we still have some deep communities where most indigenes of Abuja
hails from such as Gwagalada, Suleja, Kuje and some other small Settlements
like this one’s
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| Tunga Ashere, AMAC |
·
Pictures
taken in Tungan Area and Kayace kuje area council, Abuja
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| Kayace, Kuje Area council |
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| Landscape, Abuja |
In the midst of all the glee and beauty, i saw a woman on a sunny afternoon with two hands on her head and tears on her face. Lets not forget the needy please. God Bless you
Thanks to my host Big Uncle K, Eyes of
Insanity (Abdul), Farouq and Omooba for letting me disturb them for a short while, Mr Goke
AKinlabi for pictures of Kuje Villages and the source for my research on Abuja history will not want to be
casted but Thank you very much too.
Lol If you have any contribution on
why Abuja got the Capital, comment please, am a sucker for knowledge
and history.
