Dispense justice, group tells Jonathan

By Segun Balogun
August 28, 2011 07:00PM


The founder and president of the Oodua People's Congress, Frederick Fasehun, during a press conference over the weekend said President Goodluck must be seen upholding the tenets of Nigeria's Constitution, to which he wilfully sworn on May 29.

Mr. Fasehun has been a vociferous supporter of President Goodluck, criticising how the top eleven political offices in the country are tilted "precariously" to the North than the South, against the dictate of constitutionally enshrined federal character.

"We still believe he [President Jonathan] is worth fighting for but he should sustain our expectation by dispensing social justice," he said, when asked if he still believes in President Jonathan's administration considering how he swiftly implemented the recommendation of the National Judicial Council, which prescribed the suspension of President of Court of Appela, Justice Ayo Salami.

"We will take it that the President was misled to hastily endorse a replacement for Justice Salami. It is not too late for Mr. President to bring all parties in this crisis to the peace table," he said.

However, he urged "all men of goodwill to pronounce that by the way the Justice Isa Salami matter has been handled, justice has not been done conclusively. In fact, the NJC has demonstrated impunity and resorted to self-help, qualities that must have no place in our law."

Mr. Fasehun implored the NJC to "revist" its deliberation over Mr. Salami's case. According to him, doing so will not diminish the council's constitutional right to discipline judicial officers. More so, the council's actions must be seen to have followed due process and rule of law "which have been flagrantly sacrificed in this case."

On the other hand, he enjoined the Nigerian Bar Association to brace up and "save Nigeria's judiciary by going beyond rabble-rousing and placard-wielding."

Deepening marginalisation

The suspension of Mr. Salami and the swearing in of Justice Adamu Dalhatu further got the ire of Mr. Fasehun, who believes that, in the mean time while the Sovereign National Conference is awaited, federal character must be strictly adhered to in order to preserve the sanctity of national unity.

The current arrangement means the South-south holds the presidency, while the north hold the next four positions of vice president, senate president, House of Representative Speaker, and the head of judiciary - the Chief Justice of Nigeria and President of the Court of Appeal.

He blamed President Jonathan for this marginalisation.

"Let it be said loud and clear that the noisy silence of the Yoruba people should not be considered as acquiescence to the evil being perpetrated against them. We Yoruba people strongly protest our marginalisation. And no effort shall be spared to make our protests heard at the highest level," he said, urging President Jonathan to "veto the confirmation of Justice Dalhatu."

"If no effort is made to arrest the status quo, we will review the comfort we derive from our common bed. We have silently tolerated more than enough. President Jonathan should persuade the Yoruba people that he has nothing against them. The Yoruba people are marginalised and it is time to give them their dues."

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/5740243-146/dispense_justice_group_tells_jonathan_.csp

Ugly Signs Of Yoruba Marginalisation
Getting to write this piece is not the easiest thing for me, not because I worry about the silly labelling it would automatically attract from those who would rather not have the issue addressed, particularly the “marginalisers” themselves, but because there is a sense in which it raises possible contradiction to my advocacy for meritocracy and for regional emancipation that would surpass or render more meaningless the federal honey-pot.

But the truth must be told, and unless and until Nigeria wakes up to redefining herself, wakes up to the urgency to drastically alter the structure of the polity and government, then our problem should not be compounded by brazen disregard for the rules of even the present arrangement.

When I received the email from a friend enumerating the absurdity, the first thing I asked myself before setting out to give exposure to what is clearly a systematic, if not systemic, denial of the Yoruba from virtually all critical areas of federal government is if my reaction would have been the same were some other ethnic group the victim? I satisfied myself that I would have been so equally aghast to the measure of their population ratio within the polity. And I don’t need to convince anyone else of that.

I am going ahead to quote copiously from the report I received which has also gone out to many a concerned compatriot.

It took off asking: “Is there a calculated marginalization of the Yoruba in a democratic dispensation under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan? Or is it simply an oversight by the Executive arising from an ineffective coordination of the machinery of government?”

To be honest if the complaint were limited to what happens in Aso Rock or around the presidency I wouldn’t bat an eyelid, for isn’t that what the present (Presidential) structure enjoys, if not enjoins? Isn’t that why every ethnic group struggles to have their man right up there?

Of course the situation wasn’t necessarily so in Obasanjo’s time as I am reminded by the petitioner of Obasanjo’s out-of-the-way “fairness” such that his presidency embraced all ethnic groups even with the Igbos in ascendancy adding that whereas the South West in the main voted for Jonathan in the April presidential election, “Kano State did not vote for Obasanjo in 2003 but was better treated in terms of political appointment than any South West state”.

Maybe, as another friend points out, it’s an ethnic thing and not just with Obasanjo. It seems it’s only the Yoruba that care particularly about “fairness” or “balance” in this contraption called Nigeria, reminding me of the story narrated by General Oluwole Rotimi in this column last week – where out of seven names to be sent for the coveted Staff College training, Gen. Ironsi as GOC sent five Ibos, one Hausa and one Yoruba, leaving him (Rotimi) out even when he was senior to all the other non-Yoruba officers!

But the relegation of the Yoruba is more pervasive than just around the presidency and runs into government agencies, parastatals, corporations, etc. The petitioner writes: “A situation where the total appointments for the entire South West falls short of those of certain individual states speaks of either a deliberate effort to ignite ethnic resentment or a glaring outcome of total collapse of coordination in the machinery and records of government.”

Personally, I cannot see Goodluck Jonathan having a directly anti-Yoruba agenda, after all he is in power by the grace of his Yoruba godfather and didn’t he appoint a Reuben Abati to replace his kinsman Ima Niboro?

If President Jonathan were liable, it would only be to the extent that, in his usual self, he looks the other way while those around him are having a field day executing their own insidious private or ethnic agenda: He looks the other way and the economy is in a shambles; he looks the other way and electricity remains hopeless; he looks the other way and armed robbery and insecurity are rife; he looks the other way and our oil is stolen and mismanaged blind; he looks the other way and the country totters in tatters!

My friend raises the alarm that “available data indicates that the Yoruba have lost more than half of their appointive positions since the demise of President Yar’ Adua”.

And, as if mirroring my mind on the need for competence and merit above other considerations, he asserts:

“The current disproportionately reduced or non-appointment of Yoruba into vacant government positions is not due to lack of qualified and experienced men and women of integrity in their numbers and quality across all spheres of human endeavour in the South West. Indeed, as if to aggravate matters for a nation in dire need of competent men and women of integrity, what the Yoruba have been made to lose in terms of numbers in appointive positions is made worse for the nation in the quality of some of the replacement appointments.”

And here are the samples of key national offices and the state of origin of their leadership as suppled by the petitioner:


“The Nigeria Top Six: President (SS); Vice President (NW);Senate President(NC); Speaker(NW);Chief Justice of Nigeria (NW); Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF)(SE)(i.e. no Yoruba)


“The Legislature: President of the Senate(NC); Speaker of the House of Representatives(NW); Deputy Senate President (SE); Deputy Speaker (SE) (i.e. No Yoruba)


“The Judiciary: No Yoruba in the CJN succession radar for the next 10 years


“Top Bureaucracy: SGF (SE);Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF)(NE ); Chief of Staff to the President (COS-P)( SS);Chairman Federal Civil Service Commission ( SE);Chairman Police Service Commission(SS); National Security Adviser (NSA) (SS ) ( i.e. the top echelon of the bureaucracy comprising the secretariat of Govt.; management of the presidency; coordination and regulation of the mainstream civil service, the police and security agencies, has no Yoruba)


“Federal Executive Bodies (Commissions): Code of Conduct Bureau(NE ); Federal Character Commission(NC); Federal Civil Service Commission( SE ); Federal Judicial Service Commission( ); Independent National Electoral Commission( NW );National Population Commission( ); Police Service Commission(SS); Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission(SE); Independent Corrupt Practices and Allied Offences Commission( SS );Economic and Financial Crimes Commission( ) i.e. No Yoruba among the entire 10 Executive Chairmen of the Federal Executive Bodies listed in section 153 of the Constitution.


“Top Corporations & Heavy Budget Agencies: NNPC(NC);PTDF(NW); PHCN/NERC(SE); Tertiary Education Trust Fund ETF(NE); UBEC(NE); National Health Insurance Scheme NHIS(NE); NDDC(SS); MDGs Office (SS); NIMASA (SS); FERMA ( DG Gabriel Amuchi) ( );National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)(SE); FRSC (SE) i.e. No Yoruba heading any of the top 12 agencies of Govt.


“Revenue Related (Generation & Management) Agencies/Offices: Chairman RMAFC (SE); Chairman FIRS (SS); CG Nigerian Customs Service (NW); Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) (SW*); Auditor General of the Federation (AuGF) (NC);


“Education Regulatory/Funding/Representing Agencies: NUC (SS ); NBTE (NW); NCCE (NE); JAMB (SW*); NECO (SE); NERDC (SE); National Mathematical Center (NC); ETF (NE); UBEC (NE); UNESCO (NE)


“Anti-Corruption Agencies: EFCC (NC until 4 weeks ago); ICPC (SS);Code of Conduct Bureau (NE)


“Nigeria’s Official Leadership/Power Influence Hierarchy 1.President ( SS ); 2.Vice President (NW); 3. Senate President ( NC ); 4.Speaker of the House of Reps ( NW );5. Chief Justice of Nigeria ( NE ); 6.Deputy Senate President (SE ); 7.Deputy Speaker of the House of Reps ( SE ); 8. President of the Court of Appeal (N ); 9. Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SE ); 10. Head of the Civil Service ( NE ); 11.Chief of Staff to the President ( SS ); 12.National Security Adviser ( SS ); 13. Minister of Finance (SS/SE ); 14. Minister of Petroleum Resources ( SS ); 15. Attorney General of the Federation/Minister of Justice (NC); 16.Clerk of the NASS (NC ); 17. Minister of Power (SE); 18. Minister of Aviation ( SE ); 19. DG, SSS (SS); 20. Chairman EFCC (NC up till 4 weeks ago); 21.Inspector General of Police (NW); 22. Chairman INEC (NW); 23. Chairman ICPC (SS ); 24.Minister of Niger Delta (SS);25. Minister of National Planning (NW);26. Minister of Defence (NW); 27. DG Bureau of Public Procurement (SE); 28. DG Budget (SE) ; 29. Chairman Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (SE);30. Accountant General of the Federation (SW); 31. SSA-P MDGs (SS) ; 32. GMD NNPC (NC); 33. MD NDDC (SS); 34. GMD PHCN ( ); 35. Minister of Works ( SS );36. Minister of Trade & Investment (SS/SW?);37. Minister of Education ;38. Minister of Labour (SE);39. Minister of Agric (SW)

“(i.e. the highest ranking Yoruba holding an influential position in the Jonathan administration is the Accountant General of the Federation, an officer under the direction of the Minister of Finance! )”

But before PDP apologists snigger in glee, this should be no argument for those advocating the West should move into “mainstream” party regardless of quality of thought or direction of such a party. It is one thing to be partisan on appointive positions it is another to run against the constitutional imperative for “federal character” and balance in political and public office appointments. Even if there were no PDP members at all in all of South West, it still behoves the government in power to ensure full compliance with the constitution, and to pursue fairness and justice if peace were to be sought.

Over all, I am more disgusted by the country’s persistence in maintaining a structure that is so patently wasteful, unwieldy, lacking in dynamism, and, above all, rotten.

Those who have ears let them hear!
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/tunde-fagbenle/ugly-signs-of-yoruba-marginalisation.html

amor4ce:

Bi o ba to asiko ati su
Idi a la
[When the time to defecate comes
The anus gives way]

amor4ce:

Bi o ba to asiko ati su
Idi a la
[When the time to defecate comes
The anus gives way]

yarodin:

Well if you dare try to defecate, we are ready to push it back in. As Nchara said no one is going no where. One Nejira forever and ever AMEN.

Nchara:

Like 1967 like today. Odua will only regret their action should they dare secede. They will be beaten back in 6 months, unlike Biafra that took three years. BUT SERIOUSLY they cannot leave because oil from non Odua land is too sweet for them to leave. So make we hear word. No be for mouth dey dey take leave Nigeria. Na by action. So far, there is no evidence of any action.

BTW, what would Awo have been thinking now were he alive to see his people dreaming (yes dreaming) to leave the country he fought so hard to keep together?

amor4ce:

The signs are already there.
Which of the 3 largest nations in Nigeria - Hausa/Fulani, Igbo and Yoruba - has ever faced this kind of marginalization?
What if the split, if it does happen, marks the beginning of prosperity for all the emergent nations?
Isn't the geopolitical entity called Nigeria a contraption/an iniquity of the Amorites (Gen 15:13-16; Amorites: fair skin, blue eyes, tall, hooked/pointed/aquiline noses)?


ELA, whom many people today call El, knows HIS people.

Nchara:

Too late. Hausa, Fulani, Kanuri, Middle Belt, Igbos and Niger Delta will crush any Odua rebellion. Like 1967 like now. We are stuck together, we are one. You wanted it that way, you have it that way.

CyberG:

As usual, outright racial and tribalistic posturing from Nchara and his co-tribalists! You didn't let those tribes which you secretly hate decide, you already concluded for them what they must do? Read your history because the overload of the Akpu in your stomach will not help you when you finally get your wish. How has this got to do with the civil war of 1967 or you are smarting from another recent propagandization of your akpu filled stomach? Was it not on another thread you tribalists were discussing how to "pull out of the corpse"? Make up your mind because when all these embers of war you fan blows into a real conflagration, you will never show-up even in Benin Republic (assuming you don't live in Nigeria), or be one of the first to checkout or one of the first to be killed! War is not a tea and biscuit affair and if you have no clue of what war can do, I refer you to the return match between the Russians and the Germans in WW II. Leave your plate of Akpu for once because people like you will disappear faster than air when shaite goes down!

I wonder what exactly our Yoruba brothers want from this federation. We know what the Igbos have always wanted. same with the Northerners and the minorities in the Niger Delta but the SW are doing under G. I thought before the april election you guys were saying that you don't need any federal presence as long as the south-west with the help of ACN will move the SW forward. Why are you now shouting marginalization when ACN is the ruling party in the SW. You should be confronting Tinubu and not GEJ. GEJ doesn't owe you sh1t. If anybody is marginalized, it's the Igbos but they are fighting very hard to regain their rightful position. You're now threathening the federation with secession like it's that easy. Remember you joined the Northerners to fight the Igbos from 1967 to 1970. Any group that harbours the thought of secession will be severely dealt with. Nonsense

Nchara:

On the topic:

Can you eat your cake and have it. You chose ACN the opposition and you want to benefit from the ruling party? How is that possible? Desert ACN and return to PDP and thine glory shall be restored . Otherwise, stop whinning and follow THIEF TINUBU like sheep do their shepherd.

Yoruba have no business whining about marginalization now. They ruled for 8 years just a couple years ago. They were the House Speaker until a few months ago

If you whine due to a temporary set back, what will Igbos who have not ruled Nigeria since 1967 do? Hang themselves?
No one is leaving anywhere. We are one; we live and die together. Some of us will carry placards and demonstrate at the UN and other places against any group leaving Nigeria. Thread is closed.

dayokanu:

You dont get it do you?

Igbos dont count, They can be marginalised for all we care, Its like animals complaining they dont have the same rights as human.

When the Yoruba complained, They gave us presidency,

When Ijaws complained they gave them presidency,

When hausa complained they were allowed to rule

When Igbos tried it, They were crushed mercilessly by the Black Scorpion and they were told that they can never be president in this country, Best they can be is a Boy-boy Vice president

Like Azikwe, Ekwuene, Sylvester Ugo, Okadigbo, Ben Obi, Soludo

Negro_Ntns:

abracadabra!!! Its not just Yoruba language and rituals that are crypted, our politics is likewise a veiled empty affair!!

Nchara:

On the topic:

Can you eat your cake and have it. You chose ACN the opposition and you want to benefit from the ruling party? How is that possible? Desert ACN and return to PDP and thine glory shall be restored . Otherwise, stop whinning and follow THIEF TINUBU like sheep do their shepherd.

Yoruba have no business whining about marginalization now. They ruled for 8 years just a couple years ago. They were the House Speaker until a few months ago

If you whine due to a temporary set back, what will Igbos who have not ruled Nigeria since 1967 do? Hang themselves?

No one is leaving anywhere. We are one; we live and die together. Some of us will carry placards and demonstrate at the UN and other places against any group leaving Nigeria. Thread is closed.

sheyguy:

The last time the ibos had influence in Nigerian politics they betrayed all other ethnic group, so if they are being avoided in key political appointments ? I think it is justified depending on who is avoiding them.

Nchara:

^^^^
I wonder then what the OPC man and every other Yoruba I have met are crying and lamenting all over the place about. See contradiction all over the place. Anyways, make una secede first make we see. I ask again, na yam? 1967 will be child's play; this time the battle will be fought and won in Lagos and Ibadan, with devastating blows to the neo rebels. As in the ancient times, the Fulani will begin crushing from Ilorin down south. Hahahahaha.

Nchara:

As of today:

Igbo = Deputy Speaker
Igbo =Deputy Senate President
Igbo =Secretary to the Government of the Federation
Igbo = Finance minister and head of all other ministers

Presently, what more do Igbos want in a country of 250 ethnic groups?

Yoruba = nothing as of today.

From the title of this thread, Igbos are not crying; Yorubas are (and bitterly too).

dayokanu:

They know Igbos are always good at subordinates otherwise called boy-boy

Like Azikwe was a boyboy to Balewa, Ekwueme was a Boy boy to Shagari, Okadigbo , Soludo Sylvester Ugo, Ben Obi

Its in the genetic make up of Igbos to be houseboys

They would never get the Presidency

Ijaws that are less than 5m in Population got Presidency, Igbos that own 98% of lagos, 95% of Abuja, 99% of New york are best considered for Deputy this, Vice this, Assistant that

And if you try to complain? Benjamin Adekunle is waiting