The case of constitutional violations filed by Southern and Middle Leaders against the Federal Government under Gen Buhari regime has been adjourned till January 28,2020 after hearing on Wednesday.
This came after the court allowed a motion by the plaintiffs to join the National Assembly as the 5th defendant with the order that all processes be served on them.
The court also granted the motion by the Attorney General of the Federation and the Federal Character Commission for extension of time to respond to the plaintiffs’ claims.
Plaintiffs in the case were led to court by Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Chief John Nwodo, Dr Pogu Bitrus and Chief Ek Clark represented.
The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) has gone to the court of law to put in the legal arena what it described as “the worrying issues over constitutional violations especially observance of the federal character in the breach, overt sectionalism and in-your-face lopsided appointments into key and sensitive positions in serial violations of a plural society that has seen all key leading security positions in a section of the country as well as all major economic and financial leading sectors being manned by people from a section of the country.”
The group is of the view that whereas Nigeria’s founding fathers negotiated a federal constitution at independence, military incursion has over the years damaged the federal principles in the country and this has become a heritage for civilian politicians who do not want predictable progress for Nigeria.
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It explained that the absence of federalism caused the opposition to Zamfara state mining its gold which has been an exclusive preserve of criminals before now. “Those of us who have campaigned for federalism would ordinarily not oppose a state benefitting from its resources. We do not say Zamfara should not have that benefits but all other states must not be denied equal opportunities as obtained in all federal arrangements if we are equal stakeholders in this project.
“As we have stated earlier, we restate again that the imperative is to restructure Nigeria back to federalism as the minimum condition for a peaceful co-existence and elongation of the tenure of Nigeria as a constitution that refuses to bend will break,” the group said.
“Nigeria cannot successfully hold another election under the present constitution. Those in the core northern states of Nigeria who claim they do not understand what restructuring means are being either too clever by half, or downright dishonest and patronizing to the rest of us.
“If they are in doubt, there are several historic reference documents to assist them, including the Northern Region’s preindependence 8-point agenda where they asked for confederation. The Republican constitution of 1963, the 2014 Confab report, the El-Rufai APC Committee report etc. The insensitivity of the core northern elite is encouraging this administration to sustain its deliberate mismanagement of Nigeria’s diversity, and the SMBLF is hereby serving notice that this attitude of “our way or the highway” does not augur well for the desired longevity of the Nigerian union.
“It’s timely to warn that if there’s no comprehensive resetting of the constitutional foundation of this country, there will be no election in 2023, and those who have made a living of resisting common-sensical change would bear the responsibility of history for whatever follows,” it added.
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