President Muhammadu Buhari has been called upon to immediately and comprehensively redress the widespread factual claims of high level lopsided federal appointments.
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, a leading Non-governmental organization, made the call in a media release.
The group said high profile security and defence appointments made so far by the current administration are skewed to favour of the Hausa/Fulani of Northern Nigeria and should be mitigated and addressed without further delay or semantic gymnastics.
Besides, the Civil Society Organization picked foundational loopholes with the recent launch of the War Against Indiscipline as announced on behalf of the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, by the management of the National Orientation Agency.
The Rights group said apart from the fact that what the current administration calls “war against indiscipline” has become anachronistic, irrelevant and undemocratic, it also cautioned that any plot by the Federal Government to set up a bogus quasi-military outfit in the name of WAI Brigade violates sections 14 (1) and 217 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
The group said for any such organ to become operational, it is required by necessity that such a body must be created by an Act of National Parliament of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
It said specifically Section 214 (1) of the Constitution states: “There shall be a Police Force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigerian Police Force, and subject to the provisions of this section no other police Police Force, and subject to the provisions of this section no other police force shall be established for the Federation or any part thereof.”
HURIWA said Section 217 (1) states clearly that any military or pseudo military outfit must have a parliamentary approval.
The section said: “There shall be an armed forces for the Federation which shall consist of an Army, a Navy, an Air force and such other branches of the armed forces of the Federation as may be established by an Act of the National Assembly.”
In a statement by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, and the National Media Affairs Director, Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA said the move by the Ministry of Information and Culture amounted to an illegality that must be discouraged forthwith.
HURIWA said the creation of another contraption to embark on indiscriminate violations of the rights and dignity of the human person in the name of enforcing disciplinary orders as if we are in a military regime is an indirect way of increasing the cost of governance in an era of rapidly shrinking revenue accruing to the Federation Account.
The Rights group also restated its call on President Buhari to take practical action to correct the glaring imbalances in his strategic appointments so far, especially in the military and policing institutions.
The appointments, it stated, violates Section 14 (3) of the 1999 Constitution, which said: “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 states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies.”
HURIWA reminded President Buhari that as an elected statesman who was administered a binding oath of office in line with the Nigerian Constitution, he must comply with spirit and letters of the Nigerian supreme law and equitably redistribute strategic appointments to reflect the federal character of Nigeria.
HURIWA said the comprehensive redressing of such apparent lopsidedness will apart from saving the government needless litigations and save such expenses to social services, it will also ensure that the legacy of President Muhammadu Buhari as a Nigerian statesman will be restored.
The group reminded the President to not only listen to his coteric of praise singers hibernating and feeding fat is inside the fortified and well funded Presidential Villa, but to watch the pulse of the general public, especially outside of his ethno-religious community, to hear the bottled up angst over these clear breaches of the Federal Character Principle by his government.