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…Flays assault on South, demands return to federalism
Abiodun OBA
The National Democratic Coalition(NADECO), has rejected the 1999 Constitution in its entirety and endorsed the declaration made by Southern Governors in Asaba, Delta State.
This was contained in a communique issued after the NADECO national dialogue with the theme: ‘Federalism: Antidote to National Insecurity,’ held in Lagos, on Friday.
The communique which was read by the Secretary General of NADECO, Ayo Opadokun, said that Nigeria should return to the practice of true federalism in order to bring to an end the myriad of problems currently bedevilling it.
It also demanded that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), should stop “his sectional assault on the South.”
At the end of the dialogue, NADECO resolved to “Write an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari re-informing him that having regard to the unacceptability of the 1999 Constitution which lied against itself, because it was not made by Nigerians, but by a military clique, we formally endorse the Southern Governor’s Asaba Declaration and their various demands.
“That since the 12 Northern States introduced Shariah Laws in 2001 against section 1 and 10 of the disputed 1999 Constitution and have implemented it to the detriment of most Nigerians without any repercussion, President Buhari should stop his sectional assault on the South, the original House land owners and the Middle Belt people who have decided to take back their rights to self-determination.
“For a Nigerian President to be threatening other sections of the country with dire consequences as was unleashed during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967-1970 is outrageous, unfortunate, unacceptable and unbecoming.
“That NADECO hereby puts President Buhari on notice that since he has rejected all appeals to convey a Conference of Ethnic Nationalities who were the building blocks upon which Nigeria was constructed in 1960, to discuss and produce an autochthonous constitution and since there is no independent institution where Nigerians can seek redress and resolution of Nigerian crisis, because the Nigerian state has overbearing control over all public institutions, we shall be transmitting our open letter to President Buhari to the following:
The Secretary General of the United Nations Organization, the Security Council of the UNO; the President of the United States of America; the Speaker of the Congress and Leader of the Senate of the United States of America,” among others.
Earlier, the group examined the state of the nation and noted that governance in Nigeria has degenerated to an unbelievable low level that non-state actors, perhaps gross incompetence and or dereliction of duty of the Nigerian State, has failed and refused to protect the lives and properties of most Nigerians, which is the most important duty of any government thus exposing itself as either a failing or failed state not worthy of being considered as a Nation State under the United Nations Organisation.
It further said, “NADECO on behalf of most Nigerians is equally disturbed with the seemingly total disregard of this administration to fulfil its electoral promises (manifesto) that it would restore the country to federal constitutional governance if voted into office.
“It has been proven by deliberate actions or inactions of President Buhari and his government that they made false promises that they did not intend to execute.
“The El-Rufai Committee’s Report which itself could never solve the National Question has been kept on the shelf for about three years now to prove that the undertaking was a ruse, a gimmick to hoodwink the public to imagine that the government was doing something.
“But President Muhammadu Buhari has insensitively proven his disdain for any agitation and suggestion for restoration to the Federal constitutional governance upon which Nigeria secured its independence in 1960.”
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