BY EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO
With mouths aghast, millions of Nigerians andfriends of Nigeria from
around the globe watched as President Muhammadu Buharigranted his first
most important international media interview and made afrightening
disclosure.
This was barely weeks after he was inaugurated onmay 29th 2015 when he
honored an invitation extended to him by the then UnitedStates’ president
Mr. Barack Obama.
Surrounded by his handpicked ‘kitchen’ cabinetmembers made up of largely
his Fulani and Muslim ethno -religious cousins andnephews, the newly
minted Nigerian president who was once a military leaderhinted about what
has emerged as his theory of marginalization of the Igbospeaking people of
Nigeria.
When asked by a broadcast journalist how he wouldpreside over the affairs
of the Nigerian state as the elected president, theunsmiling Buhari wasted
no time in stating that the South East of Nigeria willbe treated with the
short end of the stick in terms of redistribution ofoffices and possibly
the sharing of the proverbial national cake.
This statement in itself is highly unconstitutionalbecause the
redistribution of national wealth and offices have been so wellarranged in
the constitution for a seamless enforcement except the politicalleader
decides to willfully violate these critical provisions.
In that interview in Washington Dc, Muhammadu Buharirevealed that the
North and South West geopolitical entities which gave him 95percent votes
will get more political benefits during his presidency than theSouth East
which only gave him 5 percent.
The president has since made good his vows whichsubstantially violates
constitutional norms but he proceeded without giving anythoughts to the
agitations for fundamental redress of these stark imbalances.
We will return shortly to provide empirical evidenceto back up the
aforementioned claims of systematic marginalization and
systematicexclusion and deliberate alienation of the Igbo speaking section
of Nigeriaduring Buhari’s administration.
First, let us explore briefly certain keyconstitutional foundations which
make it imperative that the Nigerian presidentmust be fair and just to all
constituencies.
Having said the above, the most coherent flow ofthis conversation will
continue from the fountain of legal knowledge of areputable constitutional
scholar in Nigeria by name Dr. Tunji Abayomi.
Abayomi wrote a book titled “Constitutional powersand duties of the
president” and in it he expressed the unambiguousview that whosoever is
elected a Nigerian president is the president for allconstituencies.
“For the purpose of election to the office of thepresident, the entire
nation is the constituency for the election under section132(4).”
This simple provision extends the source of theauthority of the president
beyond regions, zones, states or local constituentareas to the entire
Federation, says Abayomi.
The provision extends the executive authority of thepresident to total
domestic affairs and domestic leadership within thegeographical territory
of Nigeria, including the coverage of his orders withinconstitutional
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
anational constitutency, whether in favour or against, he becomes chief
nationalrepresentative of the people within the nation or any other
government of thenation, as well as against other nations within foreign
affairs.”
Importantly, the president upon assumption of officeis taken through the
ritual of oath taking to pledge allegiance to theconstitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The wordings of this presidential oath goes to showthat the holder is
expected to live above board and must handle the affairs ofstate as a
nationalist and not a regionalist or a religious bigot.
The presidential oath as enshrined in the 1999constitution can be found in
the seventh schedule in which the followingbinding pledges are made under
a sacred
It oath by the holder of the office of thepresident.goes thus:”…AS
President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Iwill discharge my duties to
the best of my ability, faithfully and inaccordance with the Constitution
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and thelaw, and always in the interest
of the sovereignty, integrity, solidarity,well-being and prosperity of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria; that I willstrive to preserve the Fundamental
Objectives and Directive Principles of StatePolicy contained in the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; that Iwill not allow my
personal interest to influence my official conduct or myofficial
decisions….”
Knowing man to be very imperfect and quick toforget, the drafters of the
Nigerian constitution also inserted a bindingprovision to take care of the
Federal character nature of the appointments tobe 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 agenciesand the conduct of
its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as toreflect the federal
character of Nigeria and the need to promote nationalunity, and also to
command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shallbe no
predominance of persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or
othersectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies.”
The current president has clearly violated hispresidential oath of office
and the Federal character principle because he hascompletely excluded the
Igbo speaking people from top Defence and politicalappointments with the
exception of the ministerial positions which is providedfor that he must
assign a minister per state of the Federation in section147(3) of the
constitution.
In other words, apart from the appointments ofministers which is clearly
stated, all other appointments made so far has violatedthe Federal
character principle and has excluded the Igbo speaking people.
Take for instance, the fact that Igbo speakingpeople by topography are
restricted to only five states, but by demography Igbospeaking people
constitute a significant majority and therefore must not beexcluded in
such strategic positions as are found or recognised in theConstitution to
govern the Defence sector. Apart from exclusion of Igbo in theappointment
of military service chiefs, there is no single strategic nationalassets of
the military located in the South East of Nigeria.
Therefore, the attempt made yesterday in London bythe Kaduna state
governor to deny a clear case of marginalization of Igbobased on
nomination of ministers in president Buhari’s cabinet did very littleto
justify this brazen illegality.
There is no justification to say that a tribal groupthat constitute one of
the very clear demographical majorities is singled outand excluded in the
formation of the key national military appointments. This iswrong and
unconstitutional.
But the governor of Kaduna state tried to justifythe exclusion when he
delivered a lecture at Chatham House on restructuringtitled ‘Next
Generation Nigeria: What Is Restructuring And Does Nigeria NeedIt?’
As reported by Daily trust, he explained that fourof the five states in
the zone had senior ministers in federal cabinet despitethe fact that they
gave the APC government just about five per cent of votes inthe 2015
presidential election.
“Some states including Kaduna, which gave theparty more than 90 per cent
of votes, only have junior ministers (ministers ofstate), “he said.
To put a clear lie to any futile attempt to justifythe exclusion by Buhari
of Igbo people from strategic defence and politicalpositions, let us just
look at the appointments made so far by thisadministration.
An online newspaper had reported on August 28th 2015that since the
inauguration of Muhammadu Buhari as the President of the FederalRepublic
of Nigeria, he has made 35 appointments.
Here, according to Premium Times is a list of allBuhari’s appointments
till date: 1. Aide de Camp to president: Lt. ColAbubakar Lawal, [Kano
State, North-West and husband to President Buhari’sfoster daughter]; 2.
Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to thepresident: Femi Adesina, [Osun
State, South-West]; Senior SpecialAssistant, Media and Publicity: Garba
Shehu, [Kano State, North-West].
Others are; State Chief of Protocol/SpecialAssistant (Presidential
Matters): Lawal Abdullahi Kazaure, [Jigawa State,North-West]; Accountant
General of the Federation: Ahmed Idris [KanoState, 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].
Othersare then Acting Chairperson, Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC,Amina Zakari, [Jigawa State, North-West] who is related
biologically to Buharibefore he also picked the Northerner as substantive
chairman in the personProfessor Mahmood Yakubu.
Other appointments as at when Premium Timesreported 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: BabaHaruna Jauro [Yobe
State, North-East] before he allowed his Transportationminister 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 RevenueService, FIRS:
Babatunde Fowler, [Lagos State, South-West]; DirectorGeneral, Budget
Office of the Federation: Aliyu Gusau, [Zamfara State,North-West]; Group
Managing Director, Nigeria National PetroleumCorporation, NNPC, Emmanuel
Kachikwu, [Delta State,South-South]; Secretary to Government of the
Federation, Babachir DavidLawal, [ Adamawa, North East]; Chief of Staff to
the President: AbbaKyari, [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].
Fromthat time till now, Buhari had made over 100 top level appointments
and theNorth have taken over 80% of these slots including nearly 90% of
all the top 30appointments into the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation(NNPC). ThePresident has left out the Igbo speaking population
of Nigeria in all of thesemajor appointments.
Theexclusion of Igbo by Buhari reminds me of how the United States of
Americamaltreated blacks when they suffered the natural disaster in New
Orleans.
“InSeptember of 2005, a devastating “category four” hurricane hit the
Gulf coastof the United States The levees that protected the city of New
Orleans, whichis below sea level, were breached, and massive flooding
followed, leaving 80percent of the city under water. In the days that
followed, the national pressfeatured images of masses of impoverished
African Americans, residents of NewOrleans, huddled and waiting, and
sometimes screaming, for help”.
“…Butthe population of the city was overwhelming black, and poor. The
median incomewas only 70 percent of the national average… the earnings
of some poorpeople, had been whittled away for several decades, and
especially under thepresidency of George W. Bush. The schools were bad,
with high dropout andsuspension rates, and the illiteracy rate of the city
hovered at about 40percent. Homicide rates were extraordinarily high,
roughly ten times those ofNew York City”.
“Themarginalized were again ignored even as the storm approached and
evacuationorders were issued.”
“Asevents unfolded, a contest of sorts emerged over how the public should
view thevictims. Right-wing bloggers and some of the press tried to
demonize thevictims, portraying the crowds of evacuees as a riotous mob,
stressingincidents of violence, theft, and rape….”
“Processesof marginalization in American society afford an extraordinarily
illuminatingwindow on American society as a whole, on its economy, its
culture, and itspolitics…”(marginalization and American politics by
Francis Fox Piven).
Thesenarratives of systematic marginalization of black Americans are
exactly thesame kind of maltreatment Igbo speaking nationality face under
Buhari.
Takefor instance, armed Fulani herdsmen have been on rampage killing,
maiming anddestroying farming communities and seizing these lands from the
owners butBuhari’s government has looked the other way as resisted calls
from diverseopinion leaders to declare these killers as terrorists and go
after them butthis same government said these killers classified in World
ranking as one ofthe most potent Global terror networks are mere
criminals. But the Buhari’sgovernment hurriedly branded as terrorists the
members of the unarmed selfdetermination group known as Indigenous peoples
of Biafra (IPOB).
Ifthese 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.