THE hue and cry over President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointments so far has taken a fresh dimension with a lawyer asking a Federal High Court to order the President to nullify the appointments.
The lawyer, Marcel Dim-Udebuani, in suit
no FHC/ABJ/CS/732/2015, before the Federal High Court,Abuja, accused
Buhari of allegedly breaching Nigeria’s federal character principle in
his appointment of persons into key positions under his administration.
Dim-Udebuani joined the Chairman of the Federal Character Commission as the co-defendant.
He anchored his suit on the grounds “that
the Federal Republic of Nigeria is a country for all the citizens,
South-East inclusive.”
The lawyer hails from Nnewi North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
He contended that the 25 appointments
made so far by the President were in breach of the spirit of federal
character enshrined in section 14 (3) of 1999 Constitution of Federal
Republic of Nigeria.
Buhari’s last set of appointments
announced last week has drawn strong criticism from many Nigerians, who
accused the President of appointing mainly people from the Northern part
of the country.
Buhari is from Katsina State in the North-West geo-political zone of the country.
The President had on August 27 approved
the appointment of Babachir David Lawal from Adamawa State as the
Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
He also named Mr. Abba Kyari from Borno state as his Chief of Staff.
Other appointments approved by the
President included those of Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (retd.) as the new
Comptroller-General, Nigerian Customs Service; Mr. Kure Martin Abeshi,
Comptroller-General, Nigerian Immigration Service; Senator Ita Enang,
Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (Senate); and
Suleiman Kawu as SSA on National Assembly Matters (House of
Representatives).
Both Ali and Kawu are from Kano State and
Abeshi is from Nasarawa. Enang from Akwa Ibom State is the only
southerner among the new appointees.
So far, no person from the South-East zone has been appointed into any position by the Buhari administration.
The plaintiff in the fresh suit prayed the court to reverse all the appointments the President had made so far.
Part of the questions he raised before
the court include, “whether the total of the 25 appointments made so far
by the 1st defendant (Buhari) is not against the spirit of Section 14
(3) of 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Whether the exclusion of South-East
geo-political zone in the 25 appointments made so far by the 1st
defendant is unconstitutional and divisive among others.”
The lawyer is therefore asking the court
for an order compelling the Buhari “to reverse the appointments so far
made to observe and comply with the principle of Federal Character as
enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999
(as amended).”
His other prayers also read in part, “An
order of this court compelling the 2nd defendant (FCC) to invoke
paragraph 8 (1) (C) of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
“An order of court declaring all the
appointments so far made null and void for violation of the principle of
Federal Character enshrined in our constitution aforesaid.”
He contended that the FCC was a
creation of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria and that
“the entire five states that make up South-East geo-political zone have
no appointment yet”.
He pointed out that the North-East,
North-West, North-Central, South-West and South-South had had
representations in the appointments made so far.
In an affidavit in support of the
originating summons, the plaintiff said the President swore to defend
and protect the nation’s Constitution and that obedience to the
Constitution ought to be reflected in the appointments made by Buhari.
He argued that it would be “in the best
interest of justice and promotion of rule of law that the alleged
lopsided appointments should be discouraged by granting all the prayers
before the court”.
No date has been fixed for the hearing.
Before his latest appointments, the
President had also chosen only one southerner among the initial nine
appointees he earlier named.
The northerners in the first appointments
include the Director-General of the State Services, Lawal Daura; Acting
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mrs. Amina
Zakari; the Director, Department of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Mordecai
Danteni Baba Ladan; and the Accountant-General of the Federation, Alhaji
Ahmed Idris.
Also in the first appointments were the
President’s Chief Security Officer, Abdulrahman Mani; State Chief of
Protocol, Mallam Abdullahi Kazaure; Aide- De-Camp, Lt. Col. Muhammed
Abubakar; and the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity,
Mallam Garba Shehu.
All are northerners with only the Special
Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, who hailed from Osun
State being a southerner.
SOURCE : PUNCH
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