By Guardian Nigeria
Nigerian casting their vote
Theme: “DISTRESSED NIGERIAN UNION, DISPUTED 1999 CONSTITUTION AND OPTIONS FOR REMEDIATION: TRANSITIONING OR ELECTIONS”
Ahead of the September 28, 2022 Commencement of Campaigns by Political Parties in Nigeria for 2023 Elections and in furtherance of its Campaign for the Wholesale Decommissioning of the 1999 Constitution, NINAS hereby NOTIFIES the General Public that the Claims and Promises of the Political Parties (particularly PDP, APC and LP), for addressing the current Nigerian Situation will be most rigorously questioned along the lines of the 10-Point Interrogatory contained in this publication, with a view to persuading All Stakeholders that an immediate TRANSITIONING Arrangement has become imperative in place of further National ELECTIONS that may plunge Nigeria into disaster and that 1999 Constitution is a Guarantee that most of those Promises will not be Fulfilled and that most of the Expectations will not be met, and to invite them to a surer Route to the Destination they so desperately Desire.
These Interrogatories will also illuminate the reasoning behind the December 16, 2020, NINAS Constitutional Force Majeure Proposition that the ELECTIONS being advertised for 2023 be Suspended, and that in its place, a TRANSITIONING process be emplaced for an orderly Decommissioning of the 1999 Constitution. (Ref: NINAS Constitutional Force Majeure Proclamation of December 16, 2020; full Text published as Advertorial in the Guardian Newspaper of January 20, 2021 at Pages 38, 39, 40 & 41).
THINGS THAT WILL NOT IMPROVE AS LONG AS THE 1999 CONSTITUTION STANDS.
(1)UNION DISPUTE:
From the 1966 collapse of the Federal Constitutional Arrangements AGREED upon in Lancaster House and the 1967 emergence of the Unitary Constitutional Arrangements, IMPOSED on the Nigerian Union by Fiat of the Caliphate Proprietors of Unitary Nigeria through its Military Wing, the Disputations that Resulted in the Nigeria-Biafra War of 1967-1970 remain unresolved to date. The so-called “1979 Constitution” as well as its 1999 Re-Incarnation (the so-called 1999 Constitution) was the Victory Charter of the ‘Federal’ Side in that War.
The Massive Distortions of the Original Union Agreement (Federal Constitution) by the illicit ‘Federal Government’ which emerged from the 1966 – 1970 bloody disputations, resulting in the heavily lopsided 36 States/774 Local Government Structure; and the Massive Expropriations of Economic Assets Including Oil, Gas, Ports and Solid Minerals as well as Key Developmental Powers on a wide range of subjects including Electricity Generation and Transmission, Railways, Security, Police, Arms, Ammunitions, Elections, etc. Codified 68 Items Federal Exclusive Legislative List rendering impotent the Federating Units (so-called ‘States’). All the agitations across the Country flow from these distortions.
The two egregious falsehoods in the Preamble to the ‘1999 Constitution’, namely, that ‘We the People Firmly and Solemnly Resolved to Live in Unity as One Indivisible and Indissoluble Nation’ and that we ‘Made, Enacted and Gave to ourselves the 1999 Constitution’ represent a hijack and confiscation of our Sovereignty and Self-Determination by the illicit Federal Government. The Union Dispute declared by the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS) December 16, 2020 is an Aggregation, Streamlining and Encapsulation of those Agitations.
The Solution to this Multifaceted Union Dispute is the wholesale Decommissioning of the Imposed Unitary Constitution of Nigeria (so-called 1999 Constitution).
(2)PRACTICAL REJECTION OF THE UNION:
While Politicians jump around postulating their plans for repairing the Economic Mess Nigeria has become, a Majority of the Nigerians they are inviting to that Economic Reconstruction have already disconnected themselves from the Defunct Federation of Nigeria. In the Far North of Nigeria, those who Imposed Sharia in 12 Contiguous States have already seceded from the secular union Nigeria was agreed to be. Those who have relocated Overseas and now living in Exile from their crises-ridden Homeland against their own will have simply voted with their feet from the burning house of Lugard. Young People are Trekking and Voyaging Across the Dangerous Sahara Desert and Mediterranean, all in the bid to escape from Nigeria. The ones flying ‘Oodua’ and ‘Biafra’ Flags all over the World have abandoned the Carcass of the Defunct Federation of Nigeria to the Caliphate enforcers of Unitary Nigeria and their agents across Nigeria waving Party Flags. These Practical Steps to Exit the Nigeria by those who should have been building Nigeria, will not cease because another round of National Elections took place in Nigeria. The Solution to this Practical Rejection of the Nigerian Union is to Terminate the Operation of the Unitary Constitution of Nigeria and Either return to the Table of Agreement or watch the distressed Components of Nigeria resume their Sovereignty, most probably. Unilaterally.
(3) ELECTRICITY:
Someone should explain to all the Presidential Candidates in Nigeria’s 2023 Elections that the Potential for Electricity Generation and Transmission is completely locked down by the Federal Exclusive Legislative List in the 1999 Constitution.
As long as that Constitution stands, whatever a new President is going to do about Electricity will be marginal compared with what will happen if that Constitutional Lockdown is dismantled, because then, all available capacities will be unleashed to Generate and Transmit Electricity.
The ignoramuses who will cite the Concurrent List in the 1999 Constitution as creating a window of participation for States should carry their dishonesty elsewhere until they provide an answer to why in a Federation, the Federal Government would have the Overriding Powers invested by the Provisions of that Constitution, on even the so-called “Concurrent List”.
The Solution to Electricity is to remove the Impediment called the 1999 Constitution.
(4)SECURITY:
As it is with Electricity, so is it with Security. The owners of Nigeria locked down the Possibilities and Potentials for Security Infrastructure with the 68-Item Exclusive List on the 1999 Constitution which confiscated all powers over Arms, Ammunitions, Police, and all armed Security Services to the illicit “Federal Government.” As long the 1999 Constitution stands, any effort at improving Security in Nigeria will remain the self-delusion it has been for decades. The cost in blood will continue to increase exponentially until those who imposed that Constitution completes their Murderous Conquest Onslaught which is currently in full swing, whilst distracting the rest of us with Elections 2023. Ask the People of Plateau State or Southern Kaduna if in doubt.
The Solution to Security in Nigeria is to remove the albatross called the 1999 Constitution.
(5)PERVASIVE CORRUPTION:
The 1999 Constitution EXPRESSLY creates massive avenues for humongous Corruption and Comprehensively protects the Beneficiaries of Grand Corruption by the Blanket Immunity Provision. S.6(6c) of that Constitution absolves the Government of all responsibilities to the Citizens including Security and Welfare. That same provision strips the “Citizens” (Populace really as there are no Citizens of Nigeria except we twist the meaning of citizenship to suit our debased Union) of their entitlements in the Social Contract we call the Constitution while the Political Merchants have everything for themselves. Sections 81 & 82 of the 1999 Constitution hand the spare keys to the Treasury of the Federation to the President of Nigeria while Sections 121 & 122 hand the Keys to the Treasury of the States to the Governors. Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution grants absolute immunity to both the President and the Governors for whatever atrocities they choose to commit whilst in power including the reckless looting of the Treasury. The 68-Item Federal Exclusive Legislative List on that Constitution also centralizes control over most of the Resources and Powers in such a way that only breeds unimaginable inefficiency, mind-boggling Corruption, and unbelievable impunity. Anyone who suggests he will fight Corruption in Nigeria whilst the 1999 Constitution is standing is either criminally Ignorant or hopelessly dishonest. The Solution to Corruption and Impunity in Nigeria is to Take Down the 1999 Constitution. Anything less is a Cruel Joke and Self-Deceit.
(6) REFINERIES AND PETROLEUM PRODUCTS:
The Capacity for Petroleum Refining in Nigeria is locked down completely by the Exclusive List on the 1999 Constitution which domiciles the Refineries to the illicit “Federal Government” of the Defunct Federation of Nigeria. For as long as that 1999 Constitution stands, no improvement will come to Petroleum Products Availability. The Subsidy regime that now gulps over N6Trillion annually (mostly servicing Corruption) will remain and Petroleum Products will continue to be imported at prevailing international prices; the monumental Pressure mounted by this avoidable anomaly upon the struggling Naira will continue to increase while the Naira maintains its free fall. Apart from the horrendous inflation that comes with all these, the Aviation Industry is on the verge of becoming another casualty of Nigeria’s Madness of locking down refining capacity with its Fraudulent 1999 Constitution. Unlocking this Constitutional lockdown of refining capacity is the answer and not licensing Dangote Refineries in Monopoly.
The Solution to the Non-Availability of Petroleum Products in Nigeria with all its Consequences lies in Taking Down the 1999 Constitution, not in Elections that will reinforce that Constitution.
(7)DECAYED INFRASTRUCTURE INCLUDING SEA-PORTS, AIRPORTS, HIGHWAYS, RAILWAYS ETC:
The State of Infrastructure is the way it is in Nigeria today because of the 68-Item Exclusive List on the 1999 Constitution which Lock Down all possibilities and capacities for Infrastructure by confiscating all powers over these Key Developmental Assets into the hands of an illicit “Federal Government”. Nothing relating to these items will improve as long as the 1999 Constitution stands, no matter what Candidates for 2023 Elections under the 1999 Constitution tell you.
The Solution to Infrastructure in Nigeria is to Take Down the 1999 Constitution and Free the Locked-Down Possibilities and Capacities around Infrastructure development.
(8)HUMONGOUS COST OF GOVERNANCE:
Over and above CORRUPTION, the humongous cost of Financing Massive Bureaucracies inflicted upon us by Nigeria’s 36-States/774LGs Structure indiscriminately created by Caliphate- Military Fiat between 1966 and 1999 and which has resulted in the 811 Governments (1- Federal+36-States+1-FCT+774LGs), that must be financed every month from the Treasury, is the Principal Reason for the Bankruptcy currently Staring the Nigerian State in the Face.
Anyone who speaks about the plan to reduce the cost of Governance under the 1999 Constitution is simply deceiving himself. Even if a Frugal President emerges, how will that stop the Constitutionally Mandated Monthly Allocation to these 811 Governments?
There will be 36 Governors who are not accountable to the President for the Profligacy they might embrace.
Bottom-line: The Solution to the Humongous Cost of Governance is to Take Down the 1999 Constitution. Further Elections under that Constitution only reinforces the Economic Bleeding of Nigeria.
(9)RULE OF LAW AND GOOD GOVERNANCE:
No Rule of Law, Good Governance or even Democracy is possible under the Worse-Than- Apartheid 1999 Constitution.
The Fraud of Forcefully appropriating our Collective Sovereignties under a Constitution WE DID NOT AGREE UPON or MAKE, renders everything anchored upon that Constitution Illegitimate and Unacceptable including the Institutions of State that frame the Lopsided Society we are building, whether in the Executive, Legislative or Judicial Arms.
When the Presidential Candidates for Elections 2023 come telling you about how they will Uphold the Rule of Law, ask them: “Rule of which Law?” The 1999 Constitution which is the basis of all Laws in Nigeria is a Fraud and so it must be the Rule of Fraud they are talking about. Any Journey to the Rule of Law or Good Governance must commence with the wholesale Decommissioning of the 1999 Constitution.
(10) CROOKED ELECTIONS AND BAD LEADERSHIP:
Elections into the National and State Offices including those of the President, Governor, Senator, House of Representatives, and House of Assembly are by virtue of the Exclusive List on the 1999 Constitution, the exclusive preserve of the illicit Federal Government of Nigeria and its so-called “Independent National Electoral Commission”.
The result of this great anomaly for a supposed “Federation” is the serial heist we have witnessed repeatedly since 1999. The frequent turnover of “Bad Leaderships” that the “Federation of Nigeria” and its Constituent Component States had been saddled with for decades, flows directly from the inclusion of responsibility over Elections into the aforementioned Federal and State Offices on the Exclusive List in the 1999 Constitution.
This first important step amongst the matrix of Solutions required to resolve the huge burden of Bad Leadership is to Take Down the 1999 Constitution.
Anyone who suggests that the Constitution is not the Reason Nigeria is where it is today is either ignorant or dishonest otherwise such a person should support that assertion by responding in specific terms, to each of the Ten Points of Interrogation made in this Publication about things that will not improve in Nigeria as long as the 1999 Constitution is standing.
CALL TO ACTION:
NINAS hereby invites Ethnic Nationality Organizations, the Media, the Civil Society Organizations, Students whose Universities have been locked down for several months by ASUU Strike, Professional Associations, supporters of various Political Parties particularly members of the Obi-dient Movement, to openly join this Union Debate using the NINAS Interrogatories Published here, to determine whether it is further National ELECTIONS under the atrocious 1999 Constitution that will address the Dysfunctions and Failures of Nigeria or a TRANSITIONING that will ease out and Reset the Damaged Constitutional Basis of Nigeria.
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