Leaders from various ethnic groups in the Middle belt and Southern parts of Nigeria have declared that the 1914 amalgamation of Nigeria was a fraud that has subjugated every other tribes to the control of Fulani.
The prominent leaders have issued a 90- day ultimatum for the 1999 to be repealed by constituting a Committee on Sovereign National Conference to decide on the repeal of the 1999 Constitution or to dissolve Nigeria’s amalgamation of 1914.
In a statement they issued on Friday, after an resolution of meeting held in Lagos, the leaders speaking through the platform of the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination, said the 1999 Constitution was responsible for the worsening insecurity and poverty in the land.
Some of the leaders who signed the communiqué are former Plateau State Governor, Jonah Jang; Prof. Yusufu Turaki; a prominent historian, Prof. Banji Akintoye; President-General, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo; Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe; Senator Aniete Okon; and Fred Agbeyegbe.
Others include Air Commodore Indongesit Nkanga (retd); Ambassador Godknows Igali; Fred Agbeyegbe, Rear Admiral Geoffrey Yange and Dr Kunle Oshodi.
The group noted that the 2023 elections must be suspended until the Constitution was amended to avoid a faulty oath of office.
In a communique issued after the meeting, the group declared a sovereinghty dispute and asked for a repudiation of the merger, while rejected the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Furthermore, effective from today, 18th December, 2020, (we) give a 90-day notice to the Government of the Federation of Nigeria, the Security Council of the United Nations, the Government of the United States of America, the European Union as well as the international community, of the intention of the peoples of the alliance territories to reconsider our continued allegiance to the disputed 1999 Constitution as well as the unitary union of death, attrition and backwardness it foists on us.
“It is our demand that in the 90-day period of this notice, the following specific actions must be taken by the Federal Government of Nigeria to firmly set in motion an irreversible process by which the aforementioned grave constitutional grievances would be addressed:
“A formal announcement by the Federal Government of Nigeria acknowledging the constitutional grievances and sovereignty dispute now declared by the peoples of the South and Middle-Belt of Nigeria.
“A formal commitment by the Federal Government of Nigeria to the wholesale decommissioning and jettisoning of the 1999 Constitution.
“A formal announcement by the Federal Government of Nigeria suspending further general elections under the disputed 1999 Constitution.
“A formal initiation of a time-bound transitioning process to engender the emergence of fresh constitutional protocols by a two-stage process in which the constituent regional blocs will, at the first stage, distill and ratify their various constitutions by referendums and plebiscite and in the second stage, negotiate the terms of federating afresh as may be dictated by the outcomes of a referendum and plebiscite.”
The National Assembly ad-hoc Committee on Constitution amendment has received memoranda from the general public with a view to amend the 1999 Constitution.
