DMerciful: That 1999 constitution did not come from a national or sovereign national conference and as such Illegitimate. The people never contributed to the constitution rather it was imposed. Suffice to say we dont have a constitution until a sovereign national conference where all ethnic nationalities will be represented and renegotiate our existence together!
Almost all constitutions have this issue. Blacks, women and the poor could not vote when the US constitution was enacted, the United Kingdom was created via marriages and conquests rather than the free will of the people.
However, since then, the people have elected representatives that have been able to amend their constitutions. Similarly, the Nigerian constitution has been amended.
(By the way, each of those constitutions were created or ratified by elected representatives of the people, just like the 1999 constitution is basically the 1995 constitution which was created by elected members of the 1995 constituent assembly).
By the way, someone is asking how come we have a South-South. This was created by Dr Alex Ekwueme at the 1995 Constituent Assembly. He said that people have always been afraid that the north is too big and therefore it will dominate Nigeria and therefore he proposed that there should be three geo-political zones, three in the north and three in the south, so that no zone would feel like it was being dominated. (Years later, he admitted that the idea was designed to reduce the power of the north).
The 6 zones are North-West, North-East, North-Central, South-West, South-East and South-South.
There is a diplomatic option available and I will give example. I know you are aware, but not many people know that Lagos State is a Sister-City to Atlanta City in USA. The constitution has not forbidden cultural fraternity across sovereign boundary. Using Yoruba as an example, cultural identity with Brazil and Cuba. Either of the countries, or both, could sponsor UN intervention on grounds that Yoruba is their Holy Land, as Mecca is to Muslims and Vatican is to Catholics, continued existence of Yoruba in Nigeria is a threat to articles of history and divine faith both of which have tangible values to their people for spiritual growth and sustenance.
Yoruba cannot initiate a UN intervention since it is not a sovereing on its own but another sovereing can initiate one on its behalf and introduce convincing evidence and even call professional historians, anthropologists and theologians to deliver evidence and proof beyond doubt that if Yoruba continues in Nigeria the forces of destruction is a living threat and the Holy Land to millions of Osun and Ifa adherents around the world will suffer an irreparable loss.
IBB and Abacha never carried out coup because technically they removed Illegitimate governments. It's only Nzeogwu and Buhari that are coupist because they overthrew or removed democratically elected govts
Even if i invite them they will ignore my invitation. I possess no such powers. If i did have a power like that I would do some very radical things that will change Nigerian structure.
Imagination is powerful. I have a very deep and omni-present imagination.
Because I do not have a power to invite a change of government my radicality is a handicap and of no use but I can express the thought as simple and wisely convenient to do.
There has been precedence, many of it, in which government was overthrown and the govt was changed. After the fact, those radical agents were recognized legally and accepted as heroes of Nigeria.
If you go to government house pictures of Abacha hangs on the wall, Buhari is there, IBB is there. They are precedence cases of what I talk about and no one has ever taken them to court and convicted them for staging coup or for crime against the sovereingty. So I dont see anything wrong in expressing ideas on what could happen in the current political environment.
What is your business with where South South is? You people are just too annoying. No wonder you have issues with everyone. Imagine dissing so many tribes that have identified as South South.
I haven't found the original interview (which was quite fascinating), but I've found a reprint which was published after his death. I'm going to post the reprint without the commentary about his death.
If you are asked to divide a country to North and South, will you divide 2/3 in north and 1/3 into south or you will make it 50/50? What is North about Benue, Kogi, Kwara? They are certainly in the South but fraudulently placed in the North
DMerciful: There's nothing like South South! It was a divide and rule tactics. Why dont we have North North?
This was originally published years ago, but it was republished after Dr Ekwueme's death in 2017. This is how the 6 geo-political zones were negotiated.
How Ekwueme, Bisi Onabanjo plotted six geopolitical zones from prison
ON NOVEMBER 25, 2017 5:59 AM
The idea of the six geopolitical zones looks brilliant. Was it your idea alone?
The only other person who contributed to it was my friend, Bisi Onabanjo. Two of us discussed this in prison.
It was from there you now took it to the Constitutional Conference where it was adopted? Well, it wasn’t. But Abacha adopted it. The conference itself didn’t adopt it; they wanted the status quo to remain because it was in the interest of some people to maintain the status quo.
Some have suggested the abolition of the states and for the six geopolitical zones to become the federating bodies. Do you concur?
The states don’t have to be abolished. It is a matter of nomenclature. When we had Eastern Region, we had 12 provinces which Michael Okpara created. Ogoja province, Calabar Province, Uyo Province, Annang Province, Enugu Province, Onitsha Province, Owerri Province, Umuahia Province and Port-Harcourt Province, Degema Province. There were six provinces in the minority areas and six in the Igbo areas, and all these provinces had their provincial commissioners, had their assemblies and had their provincial scholarship boards.
So, it is a matter of nomenclature. The states should be provinces of the regions. I am putting together a book called Nigeria: Thoughts on the provision of a stable polity, and in that book, there is an article by Shehu Shagari that states should become provinces of the regions.
Eventually, when I met with him when I was putting together these ideas, he said that he found that his suggestion was not very well accepted, so he wasn’t pursuing it anymore.
What kind of political structure do you think will make Nigeria politically and economically viable?
Going back to history we negotiated over a decade starting from Ibadan Conference in 1951 up to the conferences in Nigeria in London and so on until independence in 1960 – a ten year period of negotiation and in the end what Nigerians agreed with the colonial masters on what would be the form of government on the basis of which they would be given independence was a federal form of government made up of three regions – North, East and West.
That was the form of government agreed with each region autonomous in many respects and with each region having its own Constitution and the Constitutions of the three regions annexed to the Federal Constitution in one document and with each region being able to develop at its own pace.
You will see for instance, Eastern Region that started as the poorest region, by 1966 the leadership had established agricultural plantations, rubber, cocoa plantations in Cross River State, palm in Anambra, Imo, Rivers and so on and they had industries, like Trans Amadi Industrial Estate in Port Harcourt, they were able to negotiate with foreign countries and were able to build the brewery in Umuahia, ceramic factory in Umuahia, the Calabar Cement Factory and there was development. They were able to build the University of Nigeria before the Federal Government took it over ten years after.
So, each region was given the freedom to exercise its initiative. It was Eastern Region that first started the Pay As You Earn tax in Nigeria. That was the creation of -21- Bon Ejike— the first minister of finance of Eastern Region in 1952 – Pay As You Earn, automatic deduction from salary. It was first started in Eastern Nigeria because when the region was founded they had to find means of raising money. It was in the East that they first started Entertainment Tax, if you went to cinema if it was One and Six, you paid three pence tax to the government.
People used their initiative. If you went to the North you would find groundnut pyramids in Kano everywhere. In the West, cocoa was booming and they used it to invest property in Lagos, Western House, WEMABOD, Cocoa House in Ibadan all that was based on the initiative. Even free education in the West and so on.
I did my analysis while I was in Kirikiri Prison, the only problem with the form of government that we had with that structure was that it was lopsided. The structure of the regions at independence was such that one region, the North was said to have been bigger than the two other regions, East and West and when even Mid-West was created the North was still bigger than East, West and Midwest and in a parliamentary system based on population, the membership of the parliament allocated more seats to Northern Region than to all other regions put together.
If as they did in the North, they all decided to go into one party, a Northern party, and they elected all their legislators on that party, then they would continue to have the leadership of the country for ever which would not be palatable to the rest of the country. That was one fault in the disparity in the size of the regions.
The second problem I discovered was that within each region, you had majority group and a group of minorities. In the West, the Yoruba were the majority group, and the minority group was what grouped together in what became the Midwest. In the East, the Igbo were the majority and the minority group called themselves the COR State – Calabar, Ogoja, Rivers. In the North, Hausa Fulani were the majority group and the minority were mostly the Middle Belt and to some extent, the Kanuri.
So, you had a struggle within each region between the majority and the minority. So, I decided to cure these two problems that we must have parity of regions between the Old North and the Old South and that was why I decided to have parity of geopolitical zones between the North and the South.
And it also helped to have parity between the majority regions and the minority regions; the majority regions being in the Northwest, mostly Hausa-Fulani, Southwest, mostly Yoruba and the Southeast , mostly Igbo; and the minority regions being Northeast where you have the Kanuri with a number of ethnic groups in Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa and Taraba; and in the North Central you have Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Kogi, Kwara, Niger; and in the South you have the minorities in the former Midwestern Region and the minority of the Southeast region who together formed the South-South.
So instead of three regions, you now have six regions; three majority, three minority; three in the North, three in the South – parity between North and South, parity between majority and minority and the apportionment of representation would be as we negotiated with our colonial masters on the basis of which we got our independence.
What of representation at the National Assembly?
That will have to recognise the type of assembly we should have. Before we had a House of Representatives which was a House of the people based on population and we had a Senate which was based on equality of the regions.
So, in a real federation, the lower House represents the equality of all human beings within the country. Like in America, a state like Rhode Island will have two senators, New York will have two senators, California will have two senators, all the states will have two senators showing equality of the states in the upper chamber and equality of human beings means that New York may have 50 men in the House of Representatives whereas Nevada or North Dakota may have just two or three.
So would you go along with those who say that we should adopt a unicameral legislature to reduce cost?
In a federation, it won’t be wise to have one legislative body as you will have nothing to show that all the federating units are equal. It is the upper chamber that signifies the equality of the federating units.
The only problem is that we copied and abused it whereby we have full-time lawmakers. In the First Republic they had only one Long Session which lasted about six weeks for the consideration of the Appropriation Act and then another one for the Supplementary Appropriation Act, so they had two major sessions, and any other session was an emergency session lasting a few days, and they were all part-time members.
When they came, they were quartered in flats LEGCO Flats and they got sitting allowances on top of their salaries and salary wasn’t very much. Many of them were teachers, some local government officials and so on. But now, everybody who goes to the House of Representatives is a full-time person; he needs a fully furnished house, he needs legislative aides, he needs a constituency office.
Yes, all these are supposed to enhance the legislative process, but they cost a lot of money and how far this competence is enhanced is a matter of concern to some well-meaning people, because you find that some of these constituency offices, and there are some around here, you go there, and you just find a table and a chair, and you ask whether this is where a member of the House of Representatives is going to sit down and draft laws to be presented to the National Assembly? So, it is not a matter of having a single chamber just to save cost.
It is a matter of not adopting the American system hook, line, and sinker. But even in America, the congressmen have just modest accommodation in Washington; they take every opportunity to go back to their constituencies to stay with the people who elected them and to brief them on what is happening.
Will you then suggest that we go back to the parliamentary system with part-time legislators?
I am not advocating for a parliamentary system. I am ok with the presidential system, but it doesn’t have to have two chambers with full-time legislators assigned with a lot of staff, having staff at home and staff in Abuja.
The amendments have been cosmetic! We need to throw away the Illegitimate constitution and WE THE PEOPLE will sit in a sovereign national conference and draft a people's constitution where there will be input from all ethnic nationalities! If we are to amend any constitution, it has to be 1963 because that was when Nigeria made the most progress!
Almost all constitutions have this issue. Blacks, women and the poor could not vote when the US constitution was enacted, the United Kingdom was created via marriages and conquests rather than the free will of the people.
However, since then, the people have elected representatives that have been able to amend their constitutions. Similarly, the Nigerian constitution has been amended.
(By the way, each of those constitutions were created or ratified by elected representatives of the people, just like the 1999 constitution is basically the 1995 constitution which was created by elected members of the 1995 constituent assembly).
By the way, someone is asking how come we have a South-South. This was created by Dr Alex Ekwueme at the 1995 Constituent Assembly. He said that people have always been afraid that the north is too big and therefore it will dominate Nigeria and therefore he proposed that there should be three geo-political zones, three in the north and three in the south, so that no zone would feel like it was being dominated. (Years later, he admitted that the idea was designed to reduce the power of the north).
The 6 zones are North-West, North-East, North-Central, South-West, South-East and South-South.
DMerciful: There's nothing like South South! It was a divide and rule tactics. Why dont we have North North?
Whether it was divide and rule tactics does not matter. They do not want to identify with South East. You guys can form your Biafra without South South.
Whether it was divide and rule tactics does not matter. They do not want to identify with South East. You guys can form your Biafra without South South.
DMerciful: The amendments have been cosmetic! We need to throw away the Illegitimate constitution and WE THE PEOPLE will sit in a sovereign national conference and draft a people's constitution where there will be input from all ethnic nationalities! If we are to amend any constitution, it has to be 1963 because that was when Nigeria made the most progress!
we are not northerners. We have no similarity in culture, tradition or religion with them. They only include us as North when they want to achieve their selfish political agenda, after that we're left and abandoned. This nonsense must stop we are central Nigerians
Those governors wasn't picked from core north say that to the political actors they neglect masses when they received shares
DMerciful: The amendments have been cosmetic! We need to throw away the Illegitimate constitution and WE THE PEOPLE will sit in a sovereign national conference and draft a people's constitution where there will be input from all ethnic nationalities! If we are to amend any constitution, it has to be 1963 because that was when Nigeria made the most progress!
Which will result in the exact same issues that we have now. How will people be elected to that conference? Who will conduct the election? What will be the difference between that election and elections into the National Assembly (that is, the people that can currently amend the constitution)?
The truth is that this is one of the utopian dreams that some Nigerians have (along with breaking up the country) which will only lead to the same problems that we currently have.
But it's alright to dream anyway. Black Americans once said that "We the people" did not represent them and that they wanted a piece of land to be given to them in Africa so that they'll start a new country of their own.
(By the way, have you discovered that the concept of South-South was Alex Ekwueme's idea?)
By the way, although the tone of this thread makes it seem like northern legislators will not accept restructuring, but they have often voted for restructuring during constitutional amendments (I know because I've watched virtually all the amendment processes live on TV). The problem is usually the politics involved.
In order for an amendment to be enacted, 2/3rd of the Senate, 2/3rd of the House and 2/3rd of legislators in 2/3rd of the state houses of assembly must vote in support of it. There will also be public hearings in all the geopolitical zones of the country. Then the president must sign the amendment.
In 2017 the legislatures voted to amend the constitution and as part of that amendment, the National Assembly voted to hand over some of its legislative powers to the state assemblies.
However, members of the National Assembly also smuggled in some amendments that President Buhari objected to, e.g. immunity for legislators, making former presidents of the Senate and speakers of the House members of the National Council of State, etc. Therefore, President Buhari refused to sign the amendment.
See the full list of the amendments. Pay close attention to number 3.
What is lacking is political will. All the barriers you mentioned are easily surmountable with the right political will. I will check the SS -Ekwueme link
Which will result in the exact same issues that we have now. How will people be elected to that conference? Who will conduct the election? What will be the difference between that election and elections into the National Assembly (that is, the people that can currently amend the constitution)?
The truth is that this is one of the utopian dreams that some Nigerians have (along with breaking up the country) which will only lead to the same problems that we currently have.
But it's alright to dream anyway. Black Americans once said that "We the people" did not represent them and that they wanted a piece of land to be given to them in Africa so that they'll start a new country of their own.
(By the way, have you discovered that the concept of South-South was Alex Ekwueme's idea?)
DMerciful: What is lacking is political will. All the barriers you mentioned are easily surmountable with the right political will. I will check the SS -Ekwueme link
Scroll up, I've posted the whole interview here. I also tagged you in it.
[s] Yes we all know there is no South south if you are trying to be formal, but in Nigeria such a term exists, which is used to designate some certain states, so quit playing the ostrich and be respectful. Problem with you guys is that you all suffer from grandiose delusions and narcissistic personality disorder[/s].
Your stupidity, is it factory fitted or you purchased it?
Go back and read my initial post that all of you are have decided to dance soapy on. It was in parenthesis, just an aside, not the main crux of my point. But here you are yelling big words whose meaning I doubt you know.
Apparently you do not appreciate that the geographical zoning is an approximation to situate and align, as best as possible, a congruence of people with similar cultural background and root. So that all those with majority Hausa-Fulani background were called NW. All those with majority Kanuri background were called NE. All those with non majority of either of Hausa-Fulani or Kanuri background were called NC.
This zoning is not representative.
The list and count I presented is representative. In their representation the people have indeed identified themseves as a people of Middle Belt, and not a Northern people. In Middle Belt, Hausa-Fulani is a minority, so is Kanuri. The people of Middle Belt have rejected to be tagged with the identity of minority in their midst, which is North.
Again, focus on representative identity, which is what this thread is about.
You miss my point. Just like the others who have been jumping up and down on my mentions, unnecessarily if I might add.
I'd better stop using sarcasm here. Seems not many understand that language.
Anyway, correctly speaking, you can't isolate the number of reps from the middle belt from the North as you would be rightly told that there's no longer anything called middle belt in Nigeria but North central. Same as there's no region referred to as Midwest anymore since it is now South-south.
That's the crux of my post.
You also need to know that there are different ethnicities even in the supposed core north. I know there are Shuwa Arabs somewhere in the Northeast etc. So the North isn't just made up of Hausa and Fulanis.
All these classifications are to massage the ego of the Hausa/Fulani DOMINATED North. Nothing more.
There are Yorubas in the so called North Central region of Nigeria. But it suits the Northern oligarchy well to have it like that.
Your topic says South has majority in the National Assembly which is not true.
North does. You mischievously cut off North central and named it middle belt.
That's what I'm trying to point out.
Just as there's no united south, so also, there's no united north. That doesn't stop so-called middle belt from being North Central as is written in the constitution.
You didn't get what I'm hinting at, so I'll make it clear.
You are looking at what's required to pass a bill in the House of Representatives. All that's required is a simple majority.
However, a constitutional amendment is different (all the things that you listed require constitutional amendments).
In order to amend the constitution, you need
1) ⅔rd majority of votes in the House of Representatives.
2) ⅔rd majority of votes in the Senate
3) ⅔rd majority of votes in ⅔rd of all the state houses of assembly in Nigeria.
This is why, although voice votes are usually used in the National Assembly, electronic voting is used when they are amending the constitution, because they must count each vote to determine if they've gotten ⅔ majority.
you mean that all the 36 state houses of assembly must also get 2/3 majority b4 constitution can be amended? What if some don't get it?
kynbasil01: you mean that all the 36 state houses of assembly must also get 2/3 majority b4 constitution can be amended? What if some don't get it?
Not all. There must be 2/3rd of the votes in 2/3rd of the state houses of assembly. 2/3rd of 36 states = 24 states. So you need 2/3rd of the votes in 24 state houses of assembly.
DMerciful: There's nothing like South South! It was a divide and rule tactics. Why dont we have North North?
your drunk, so giving ijaws, ibibios,efiks, urhobos,itshekiri,Efik, Annang etc their own region to flourish is divide and Rule, funny enough we even demanded for the region ourselves, you're crazy, I wonder why I don't see Yorubas shouting divide and Rule when Edo and Delta were carved out of the western region, you have ulterior motives
Even if you add MB to them for bonus they are still in minority. I don't know how we got bamboozled for so long into believing that South is minority. I dont know how it happened, but let's wake up with the new knowledge and do the right thing.
sey you do mathematics for school? If you add for the entire north which 137 + 49= 186 . Then the entire South is 173.. which is Higher? South 172 North : 186
You still did not answer the question. Where in his post did he imply military take over?
Naturally I wouldn't have replied you but then ; "We have had two Southern Presidents and neither one had the boldness to restructure the country during his administration. I dont think the next Southern President will have the balls either. A change in the constitution to effect restructuring can only be done by a military take over when they suspend or repeal it. The one we have now was put together by them anyway."... MayorofLagos (2020). I don't know what the above statement implies.
The problem with placing one's opinions on the internet is having to deal with illiterates who can't read to understand.
Open a simple atlas map or any geography textbook and point out the cardinal point designated as South-south if you can.
Then, when you're done, relate it with my earlier post, this time reading carefully.
Hopefully, you will come to the formerly missed conclusion that there's no insult in my post that you quoted.
I think South South was created in order to weaken the power of the South East...Before the Biafra War, those regions were part of Eastern Nigeria. . I know there is nothing like the SS in the cardinal point or the geographical map but we like it the arrangement like that. You can imagine the over bearing attitude of the Easterners against the minority group in political affairs of the region since they are the majority. They would have been sidelined politically, just the way the middle belt are politically short changed in the North .
