Yar’Adua, Stop Marginalization of Ndigbo!

The continued marginalization of Ndigbo in the Nigerian nation continues to give a serious headache to a human rights group, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Intersociety.

Intersociety, in letter dated July 13, 2009, expresses worry over what it describes as unhealthy turn of events with respect to recent appointments by Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s administration.

“In the economic sector management team, for instance, from the Governor of CBN, Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Minister of Finance, to Minister of the National Planning, all of them are allocated to the North. The Minister of Petroleum Resources and the Group Managing Director of the NNPC are from the North. The same thing goes to the Minister of Defense and key Service Chiefs. Our question is: Where is the Federal Character Principle, provided for, in Section 14 (3) of the Constitution of Nigeria, 1999?” the letter states.

Intersociety adds that all the officers in the Judiciary Arm, including the Chief Justice of Nigeria, the President of Court of Appeal, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, as well as his counterpart in the Federal Capital Territory are all from the North. The situation, the group, maintains, is, also, the same in the Executive and legislative arms of Nigerian government, where both President Yar’Adua and Senate President David Mark, similarly, come from the North.

“It appears that Nigeria has become the Northern Republic of Nigeria instead of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”, the body thunders.
Intersociety’s letter which was signed by Comrades Emeka Umeagbalasi and Justus Ijeoma, Chairman, Board of Trustees and Head, Publicity Desk respectively, particularly, refers to the imminent appointment of a replacement to Mike Okiro, the outgoing Police Inspector-General. All things being equal, Okiro bows out of service this month end.

Going down paved memory lane, the organization writes: “Our records show that between 1964 and 1966, Mr.L.O. Edet, from the South-South, held sway as IGP, from 1966 to 1975, Mr. Kam Salem, from the North was the Nation’s IGP, from 1975 to 1979, Alhaji Mohammed Diko Yusuf, from the North was IGP. Between 1979 and 1981, Alhaji Adamu Suleiman, from the North was the Nigeria’s IGP, from 1981 to 1983, Mr. Sunday Adewusi, from the South-west was made IGP, between 1983/84 and 1986, Mr. Etim Inyang, from the South-south was IGP, from 1986 to 1989, Alhaji Mohammed Gambo, from the North was IGP.

‘Between 1990 and 1993, Alhaji Aliyu Attah, from the North was IGP, from 1993 to 1999, Alhaji Ibrahim Commassie, from the North was the Nation’s IGP, from 1999 to 2002, Mr. Musilu Smith, from South-west was IGP. Between 2002 and 2005, Mr. Tafa Balogun, from the South-west was IGP, from 2005 to 2007, Mr. Sunday Gabriel Ehindero, from the South-west (Ondo- Edo) was IGP. Between 2007 and 2009, Mr. Michael Okiro, from the South-south, had been the Nation’s IGP”.

The foregoing statistics show that out of Nigeria’s 13 Inspectors-General of Police, the North had had six IGPs and South seven. Among the three geopolitical zones in the South, the Southeast had none, the South-west had four and the South-south three. Among the four main ethnic groups of Hausa-Fulani, Igbo, Yoruba and the Minorities, Igbo had had none, as Ogbonnaya Onovo, who merited the post in 2007, was schemed out for unjustifiable reasons.

The organization, therefore, calls on Yar’Adua to observe Federal Character Principle in his government’s appointments. It notes that past regimes had, all the while, been violating the prince, it says, is part of the country’s constitution.

“The gross injustice meted on the Southeast zone, in the area of the IGP status, shall no longer repeat itself. It is not only that a Southeast person should be made the IGP, but also the said lopsided appointments so highlighted should be properly addressed and the Federal Character Principle allowed to operate”, Intersociety maintains.

The group, also, demands the filling of vacancies created by retired senior police officers from the southeast zone. The officers include: AIG Richard Chime, AIG Kelvin Opoke and Commissioners of Police Innocent Ilozuoke, Ibezimako Aghanya and Callistus Aniude, adding that other zones, so affected, should, equally, have their officers promoted to the positions left by those who were retired recently.