[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he ‘expanded’ security meeting on South East held recently with South East governors had an interesting posse of security chiefs in attendance, including the following:
Maj-Gen Abubakar Maikobi (GOC, 82 Division, Nigerian Army).
Air Vice-Marshall Idi Amin (Air Officer Commanding).
Yusuf Ishaku (Director, DSS Anambra).
A. J. Ibrahim (Director, DSS Abia State).
H. E. Abdullah (Director, DSS Ebonyi).
B. Likinyo (Director, DSS Enugu).
Baba Tijani (AIG, Zone 9, Umuahia).
Awosola Awotinde (CP, Ebonyi State).
Ahmadu Abdulrahman (CP, Enugu State).
Rabiu Ladodo (CP, Imo State).
You will notice that there’s NO SINGLE IGBO or Southeast person at the helms of deciding matters of security (life and death) that concern people of Southeast.
This is unconstitutional.
It’s also wrong, ungodly and dangerous.
How can you secure a people without their participation? When you do that, it runs the grave risk of being perceived as a belligerent occupation, or worse – a benign conquest. Plus, it breeds popular distrust, which is antithetical to security.
Then, you wonder why the agitation is not letting up.
Southeast is a bonafide part of this country which is still a federation, NOT some unitary contraption.
With all due respects, SE Governors, Senators, Reps, where at thou? Where’s thy mojo?
To Senators and Reps: Please sponsor resolutions against this. Raise a helluva of legislative hell. Start a self-righteous floor fight.
To Speakers of SE Houses of Assembly: Please pass unanimous resolutions conveying your collective legislative outrage. It carries moral and political force, sufficient to rock the boat.
To SE Governors: Please direct your Attorneys-General to immediately levy aggressive constitutional suits under Section 232 of the Constitution. It might be a matter of first impression. Yet, you should gird your loins and bring a flurry to bear.
Don’t allow your Attorneys-General to agonize over the pros and cons or become intimidated by some nuances and legal ‘technicalities’. The pros are self-evident enough; and getting a fair shake out of this Nigeria, especially when it borders on your collective security, should admit of no technicalities. Never.
Win or lose, you would have made your point that ‘enough is enough’; and that you’re standing up for your Southeast, for your people.
I could have commenced the suit myself but – as a private citizen – I lack the requisite constitutional vires or locus to do so under the pertinent Section 232.
Besides, a geopolitical ‘class’ action – brought under the full faith and credit of entire Southeast – will pack far more punch than any private action pivoting on ‘discrimination’ under Section 42 of the Constitution.
And this: It’s no longer enough to just complain and go to sleep; or claim that someone is ‘quietly doing something through some back channels’. Which back channels? It’s not credible.
Take a proactive and cogent action and please do it in plain view. Do it now!
Aloy Ejimakor, is a legal practitioner who is of Adulbert Legal Services.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
