PEOPLES OF THE SOUTH AND MIDDLE BELT: DOES REFERENDUM FALL FROM THE SKY?
By Ndidi Uwechue
NINAS Movement News
24th January 2022

Signs are emerging that Nigerians are keen for true democracy when we hear young people especially, calling for Referendums. They are rejecting the non-democratic political and constitutional arrangements created by the illegitimate 1999 Constitution foisted upon them. It shows that they are realising that it is “we the people” who are the ones to decide the future of Nigeria. Furthermore, this reveals that they now want their inalienable right to Self-Determination, and they have heard that it involves Referendums. However, will the Referendums they know that they need, fall from the sky?

When considering how those Referendums are to come about, it is first necessary to understand why a CORRECT PROCESS must be followed. Here are two illustrations. A young teenager who unfortunately cannot read so has no books, and who has no access to online videos wants to make a cake. He assembles some flour, sugar, eggs, and water but does not know it requires milk, flavourings, and raising agents, plus that measured amounts of ingredients are needed, and that there is a sequence to be followed. What comes out is not a cake, it is more like a thick, hard biscuit, but it is edible and safe to eat. In this case, guessing is alright, nobody is placed in any danger.
However, if there is a patient who needs to undergo heart surgery, it will not do at all if the surgeon guesses, and cuts it here, then cuts it there, then does this and does that. If the patient is to survive, the surgeon must follow a precise sequence and a precise process, using specific tools. So it is, with getting Self-Determination. It is not child’s play, it is not achieved by doing this, and doing that, for that could lead to unnecessary deaths as is happening in the South East zone of the country. Getting Self-Determination is a serious business that is guided by experts who are able to understand what is required, and who are able to follow United Nations and International Law directives.

Thus, despite the various rightful demands for Self-Determination, it is only the NINAS Movement that has actually done what it takes to have those Referendums. Nigeria is in a unique situation because this multi-national country is created and maintained by a 1999 Constitution that its peoples never wrote or agreed to. Therefore, unitary Nigeria fabricated from the sham 1999 Constitution is simply an idea of those who wrote that forgery and imposed it. This means that there is no Union, because a true political Union needs a real Constitution. It therefore also means that in reality, the Ethnic Nations of Nigeria are back to a similar situation they were in, in the 1950s prior to Independence,

Moreover, since the 1999 Constitution does not belong to “we the people”, it is applied to oppress and weaken Nigerians by creating a country that consists of either mal-governed areas or of ungoverned spaces. That Constitution is now also being used to facilitate insecurity ie, Islamic terrorism to spread Sharia, and genocide for land grab by armed Fulani. Frightening as things already are, yet, to prevent total anarchy, the NINAS Movement’s people-led proposition which is ALREADY on the table, and which comprises of over 21 years of precise and specific work (having started soon after the 1999 Constitution was imposed), is available for Nigerians, ready to give citizens the Self-Determination Referendums that they are clamouring for.

To repeat, Self-Determination Referendums will not fall from the sky. Just like the work of a surgeon follows precise well-planned procedures, so too does the important work of getting Self-Determination for the numerous indigenous Ethnic Nations of the South and Middle Belt.
Firstly, the NINAS Movement identified that it was the 1999 Constitution that hijacked Self-Determination. That meant that the 1999 Constitution has to be Taken Down, so it was Repudiated, then on 16th December 2020, the NINAS Movement declared a historic Constitutional Force Majeure that started the process to Decommission that illegitimate Constitution.

There is only one step now that remains to be done in order to have those Regional Referendums. It is that preparations for General Elections in 2023 should be SUSPENDED, so that there can be a Transitional Government when the Regional Referendums will take place. Thus, the one step needed is that all political parties in the South and Middle Belt CLOSE SHOP even if temporarily, and not go to those General Elections in 2023 as that would renew the life of that illegitimate 1999 Constitution (when the winner swears an Oath of Office to govern by it).
It should be noted that during the Transitional Government, elected politicians would remain in office. So, during the transitioning process the current governance structures would remain in place on an adjusted basis.

In conclusion, Referendums do not appear from nowhere. Neither do Referendums appear from guesswork – trying this (unfounded) idea, then trying that one, then trying the one over there… No. It is adult business. It is something that dedicated experts work to bring about as they follow the proper, precise, and relevant processes laid down by International Law. The NINAS Movement has already done much of the needed work. All that remains for Ethnic Nations to have their Regional Referendums is just one step: it is to halt preparations for General Elections in 2023.

For information, please visit the NINAS Movement website:
www.ninasvoice.org


Ndidi Uwechue is a British citizen with Igbo heritage from the Lower Niger Bloc. She is a retired Metropolitan (London) Police Officer, she is a signatory to the Constitutional Force Majeure, and she writes from Abuja.



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