With mouths aghast, millions of Nigerians and
friends of Nigeria from around the globe watched as President Muhammadu Buhari
granted his first most important international media interview and made a
frightening disclosure.
This was barely weeks after he was inaugurated on
may 29th 2015 when he honored an invitation extended to him by the then United
States' president Mr. Barack Obama.
Surrounded by his handpicked ‘kitchen’ cabinet
members made up of largely his Fulani and Muslim ethno -religious cousins and
nephews, the newly minted Nigerian president who was once a military leader
hinted about what has emerged as his theory of marginalization of the Igbo
speaking people of Nigeria.
When asked by a broadcast journalist how he would
preside over the affairs of the Nigerian state as the elected president, the
unsmiling Buhari wasted no time in stating that the South East of Nigeria will
be treated with the short end of the stick in terms of redistribution of
offices and possibly the sharing of the proverbial national cake.
This statement in itself is highly unconstitutional
because the redistribution of national wealth and offices have been so well
arranged in the constitution for a seamless enforcement except the political
leader decides to willfully violate these critical provisions.
In that interview in Washington Dc, Muhammadu Buhari
revealed that the North and South West geopolitical entities which gave him 95
percent votes will get more political benefits during his presidency than the
South East which only gave him 5 percent.
The president has since made good his vows which
substantially violates constitutional norms but he proceeded without giving any
thoughts to the agitations for fundamental redress of these stark imbalances.
We will return shortly to provide empirical evidence
to back up the aforementioned claims of systematic marginalization and systematic
exclusion and deliberate alienation of the Igbo speaking section of Nigeria
during Buhari’s administration.
First, let us explore briefly certain key
constitutional foundations which make it imperative that the Nigerian president
must be fair and just to all constituencies.
Having said the above, the most coherent flow of
this conversation will continue from the fountain of legal knowledge of a
reputable constitutional scholar in Nigeria by name Dr. Tunji Abayomi.
Abayomi wrote a book titled “Constitutional powers
and duties of the president" and in it he expressed the unambiguous
view that whosoever is elected a Nigerian president is the president for all
constituencies.
“For the purpose of election to the office of the
president, the entire nation is the constituency for the election under section
132(4)."
This simple provision extends the source of the
authority of the president beyond regions, zones, states or local constituent
areas to the entire Federation, says Abayomi.
The provision extends the executive authority of the
president to total domestic affairs and domestic leadership within the
geographical territory of Nigeria, including the coverage of his orders within
constitutional grounds. Section 5(1) invests in the president the executive powers.
But it is section 132(4) ...by emerging from the exercise of the votes of a
national constitutency, whether in favour or against, he becomes chief national
representative of the people within the nation or any other government of the
nation, as well as against other nations within foreign affairs."
Importantly, the president upon assumption of office
is taken through the ritual of oath taking to pledge allegiance to the
constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The wordings of this presidential oath goes to show
that the holder is expected to live above board and must handle the affairs of
state as a nationalist and not a regionalist or a religious bigot.
The presidential oath as enshrined in the 1999
constitution can be found in the seventh schedule in which the following
binding pledges are made under a sacred
It oath by the holder of the office of the
president.goes thus:"...AS President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I
will discharge my duties to the best of my ability, faithfully and in
accordance with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the
law, and always in the interest of the sovereignty, integrity, solidarity,
well-being and prosperity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; that I will
strive to preserve the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State
Policy contained in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; that I
will not allow my personal interest to influence my official conduct or my
official decisions...."
Knowing man to be very imperfect and quick to
forget, the drafters of the Nigerian constitution also inserted a binding
provision to take care of the Federal character nature of the appointments to
be made by the president in order to create balance and a sense of belonging.
In section 14(3) the constitution provides that :
“(3) The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies
and the 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 predominance of persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or other
sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies.”
The current president has clearly violated his
presidential oath of office and the Federal character principle because he has
completely excluded the Igbo speaking people from top Defence and political
appointments with the exception of the ministerial positions which is provided
for that he must assign a minister per state of the Federation in section
147(3) of the constitution.
In other words, apart from the appointments of
ministers which is clearly stated, all other appointments made so far has violated
the Federal character principle and has excluded the Igbo speaking people.
Take for instance, the fact that Igbo speaking
people by topography are restricted to only five states, but by demography Igbo
speaking people constitute a significant majority and therefore must not be
excluded in such strategic positions as are found or recognised in the
Constitution to govern the Defence sector. Apart from exclusion of Igbo in the
appointment of military service chiefs, there is no single strategic national
assets of the military located in the South East of Nigeria.
Therefore, the attempt made yesterday in London by
the Kaduna state governor to deny a clear case of marginalization of Igbo
based on nomination of ministers in president Buhari’s cabinet did very little
to justify this brazen illegality.
There is no justification to say that a tribal group
that constitute one of the very clear demographical majorities is singled out
and excluded in the formation of the key national military appointments. This is
wrong and unconstitutional.
But the governor of Kaduna state tried to justify
the exclusion when he delivered a lecture at Chatham House on restructuring
titled ‘Next Generation Nigeria: What Is Restructuring And Does Nigeria Need
It?’
As reported by Daily trust, he explained that four
of the five states in the zone had senior ministers in federal cabinet despite
the fact that they gave the APC government just about five per cent of votes in
the 2015 presidential election.
"Some states including Kaduna, which gave the
party more than 90 per cent of votes, only have junior ministers (ministers of
state), "he said.
To put a clear lie to any futile attempt to justify
the exclusion by Buhari of Igbo people from strategic defence and political
positions, let us just look at the appointments made so far by this
administration.
An online newspaper had reported on August 28th 2015
that since the inauguration of Muhammadu Buhari as the President of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, he has made 35 appointments.
Here, according to Premium Times is a list of all
Buhari’s appointments till date: 1. Aide de Camp to president: Lt. Col
Abubakar Lawal, [Kano State, North-West and husband to President Buhari’s
foster daughter]; 2. Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the
president: Femi Adesina, [Osun State, South-West]; Senior Special
Assistant, Media and Publicity: Garba Shehu, [Kano State, North-West].
Others are; State Chief of Protocol/Special
Assistant (Presidential Matters): Lawal Abdullahi Kazaure, [Jigawa State,
North-West]; Accountant General of the Federation: Ahmed Idris [Kano
State, North-West];National Security Adviser: Babagana Monguno [Borno State,
North-East]; Chief of Defence Staff, Abayomi Olonishakin, [Ekiti State,
South-West]; Chief of Army Staff: Tukur Buratai, [Borno State,
North-East]; Chief of Naval Staff: Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, [Cross Rivers,
South-South]; Chief of Air Staff, Sadique Abubakar, [Bauchi State,
North-East]; Chief of Defence Intelligence: Monday Riku Morgan
[Benue State, North-Central]; Director General, State Security Services,
SSS: Lawal Daura, [Katsina State, North-West].
Others
are then Acting Chairperson, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC,
Amina Zakari, [Jigawa State, North-West] who is related biologically to Buhari
before he also picked the Northerner as substantive chairman in the person
Professor Mahmood Yakubu.
Other appointments as at when Premium Times
reported are; Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA: Habibu Abdulahi
[Kano State, North-West]; Special Adviser, Niger Delta Amnesty Office:
Paul Boroh, [Bayelsa State, South-South]; Acting Director General,
Nigerian Maritime Administration, Safety and Security Agency, NIMASA: Baba
Haruna Jauro [Yobe State, North-East] before he allowed his Transportation
minister to nominate his political acolyte Dakuku Peterside as DG.
Other key appointments are Executive Vice Chairman/
Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Communications Commission: Umaru Dambatta
[Kano State, North-West]; Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue
Service, FIRS: Babatunde Fowler, [Lagos State, South-West]; Director
General, Budget Office of the Federation: Aliyu Gusau, [Zamfara State,
North-West]; Group Managing Director, Nigeria National Petroleum
Corporation, NNPC, Emmanuel Kachikwu, [Delta State,
South-South]; Secretary to Government of the Federation, Babachir David
Lawal, [ Adamawa, North East]; Chief of Staff to the President: Abba
Kyari, [Borno, North-East]; Comptroller-General, Nigerian Customs Service:
Hameed Ibrahim Ali, [Kaduna State, North-Central]; Comptroller-General,
Nigerian Immigration Service: Kure Martin Abeshi, [Nasarawa State,
North-Central].
From
that time till now, Buhari had made over 100 top level appointments and the
North have taken over 80% of these slots including nearly 90% of all the top 30
appointments into the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC). The
President has left out the Igbo speaking population of Nigeria in all of these
major appointments.
The
exclusion of Igbo by Buhari reminds me of how the United States of America
maltreated blacks when they suffered the natural disaster in New Orleans.
"In
September of 2005, a devastating “category four” hurricane hit the Gulf coast
of the United States The levees that protected the city of New Orleans, which
is below sea level, were breached, and massive flooding followed, leaving 80
percent of the city under water. In the days that followed, the national press
featured images of masses of impoverished African Americans, residents of New
Orleans, huddled and waiting, and sometimes screaming, for help".
"...But
the population of the city was overwhelming black, and poor. The median income
was only 70 percent of the national average... the earnings of some poor
people, had been whittled away for several decades, and especially under the
presidency of George W. Bush. The schools were bad, with high dropout and
suspension rates, and the illiteracy rate of the city hovered at about 40
percent. Homicide rates were extraordinarily high, roughly ten times those of
New York City".
"The
marginalized were again ignored even as the storm approached and evacuation
orders were issued."
"As
events unfolded, a contest of sorts emerged over how the public should view the
victims. Right-wing bloggers and some of the press tried to demonize the
victims, portraying the crowds of evacuees as a riotous mob, stressing
incidents of violence, theft, and rape...."
"Processes
of marginalization in American society afford an extraordinarily illuminating
window on American society as a whole, on its economy, its culture, and its
politics..."(marginalization and American politics by Francis Fox Piven).
These
narratives of systematic marginalization of black Americans are exactly the
same kind of maltreatment Igbo speaking nationality face under Buhari.
Take
for instance, armed Fulani herdsmen have been on rampage killing, maiming and
destroying farming communities and seizing these lands from the owners but
Buhari's government has looked the other way as resisted calls from diverse
opinion leaders to declare these killers as terrorists and go after them but
this same government said these killers classified in World ranking as one of
the most potent Global terror networks are mere criminals. But the Buhari's
government hurriedly branded as terrorists the members of the unarmed self
determination group known as Indigenous peoples of Biafra (IPOB).
If
these aren't injustices what then is the definition of justice?
*
Emmanuel Onwubiko is head of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria
(HURIWA) and blogs @www.emmanuelonwubiko.com; www.huriwa@blogspot.com.
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