Northern politicians,academics ,professionals and businessmen under the aegis of the Coalition of Northern Leaders have accused president Goodluck Jonathan of working to elongate his tenure.The group which recently set up some committees to examine key issues in a statement today signed by Dr Junaid Mohammed its convener said “The Committee Chairmen also noted with concern and regret the goings-on in the constitutional amendment committee set up by the Federal Government under a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Alfa Belgore, where it has become clear that both the Villa and the Chairman are relentlessly pursuing sinister third term agenda/renewed tenure elongation for the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. The main effort by Belgore and other hirelings of the and the Villa has been to create a so-called NEW Constitution that paves the way for Jonathan to again contest the presidential election in 2015 for a single term of Seven (7) years, that is, in addition to his current Four (4) years to the nearly Two (2) years he had served of the Yar’Adua Presidency.
.Junaid’s statement added that”Belgore has nothing but contempt for issues in which the North feels cheated such as Abuja and revenue allocation and his dangerous antics have divided the committee, leading to acrimonious debates and near fist-fights with Belgore feigning helplessness while surreptitiously helping his own side.
Earlier ,the Northern group said “The North rejects the current obnoxious revenue allocation law and calls for its immediate review in view of its being lopsided, unfair and detrimental to the interest of all Nigerians, including the real people of the oil-producing states it appears to favour superficially. Oil producing states are equally victims because the revenue accruing to their states on the basis of obnoxious derivation over-weighted formula is far beyond their executive capacity to manage. As a consequence, it encourages corruption and hyper-inflation in those states, their neighbours and the country at large. The law as it exists is a violation of a subsisting judgment by the Supreme Court of Nigeria, a fact openly admitted to by former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in his clandestine and indecent corruption of the National Assembly to have the law passed at that time (2002)
Rad the full text of their statement below:
| 1. The North rejects the current obnoxious revenue allocation law and calls for its immediate review in view of its being lopsided, unfair and detrimental to the interest of all Nigerians, including the real people of the oil-producing states it appears to favour superficially. Oil producing states are equally victims because the revenue accruing to their states on the basis of obnoxious derivation over-weighted formula is far beyond their executive capacity to manage. As a consequence, it encourages corruption and hyper-inflation in those states, their neighbours and the country at large. The law as it exists is a violation of a subsisting judgment by the Supreme Court of Nigeria, a fact openly admitted to by former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in his clandestine and indecent corruption of the National Assembly to have the law passed at that time (2002)2. This revenue allocation law also stands in violation of the international law with particular reference to the International Law of Sea Convention (LOSC). The LOSC treaty, which has since come into force (1982), is the principal governing law for all maritime resource issues. The LOSC is one of the most comprehensive treaties in international law and clearly stipulates in its various parts and annexes that oil and all forms of wealth found on the continental shelf or the international sea bed must belong to the countries and not just to administrative/political units (littoral states) adjoining the physical sea.
3. The revenue allocation law as it stands is a violation of a subsisting Supreme Court judgment viz: A-G of the Federation Versus A.G Abia State and 36 others (2002) reported in 6 NWLR part 765 on pages 542-905. The law is an encouragement to the political class to ignore the ecological devastation as a consequence of oil-related activities while financing and encouraging terrorist agitation and criminality in that pat of Nigeria for political blackmail, extortion and ransom.
The meeting condemned the practice by governments in awarding oil blocks and crude oil liftings to top Generals, cronies of parties or persons in power and fraudsters, who give our country a very bad name overseas. We strongly recommend the revocations of all those oil blocks and oil lifting contracts and urge a comprehensive review of all manner of refined products import contracts. Meanwhile, all Generals and dishonest businessmen, local chiefs and war-lords involved in criminal bunkering must be identified, arrested and effectively prosecuted. 4. The Committee Chairmen also discussed the current status of Abuja as the Federal Capital Territory, whereby land belonging to identifiable peoples and communities is forcibly taken away to make way for a so-called federal capital development with virtually no compensation. The communities and peoples alienated from their lands are rendered internally displaced persons (IDPs), but lacking all the rights and privileges accorded them by UN Conventions. It is worth noting that from colonial era administration after unification in 1914 and the declaration of Lagos as the Nigeria’s capital, to the creation of Ibadan, Kaduna and Enugu as regional capitals, on to the creation of the old mid-west with Benin City as capital in 1963, nowhere were the original inhabitants/owners comprehensively, pitilessly and insensitively dispossessed as in Abuja. The fiction of a so-called virgin land sold to the late General Murtala Mohammed was just that; a fictional and shameless invention by an obscure geographer from the South-West, to justify the heist of a peoples’ land. No land can be declared a virgin when it is occupied for several generations by peoples and communities. What is sauce for the goose must be sauce for the gander. What has been the birth-right of Lagosians, their land, as well as Binis, Ibadans and the Wawas of Enugu, must be applicable with full force to the peoples/communities of Abuja forthwith. The whole country must be put on notice that in any future constitutional amendment exercise, the North will demand that the future status of Abuja must be at the heart of that discussion. The paid agitators of a Sovereign National Conference should get prepared. The Committee Chairmen also noted with concern and regret the goings-on in the constitutional amendment committee set up by the Federal Government under a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Alfa Belgore, where it has become clear that both the Villa and the Chairman are relentlessly pursuing sinister third term agenda/renewed tenure elongation for the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. The main effort by Belgore and other hirelings of the and the Villa has been to create a so-called NEW Constitution that paves the way for Jonathan to again contest the presidential election in 2015 for a single term of Seven (7) years, that is, in addition to his current Four (4) years to the nearly Two (2) years he had served of the Yar’Adua Presidency. Belgore has nothing but contempt for issues in which the North feels cheated such as Abuja and revenue allocation and his dangerous antics have divided the committee, leading to acrimonious debates and near fist-fights with Belgore feigning helplessness while surreptitiously helping his own side. The whole country with the North as its head will rise to oppose this mischief. |
| Signed:
Dr. Junaid Mohammad Convener. |
