The steps to end the grand deception of upholding an illegitimate 1999 Constitution are known to the political elite and legal practitioners, and a Constitutional Force Majeure has been declared. It is hoped that they will therefore do the right thing, and do the right thing the right way. If not, they make Restructuring and keeping Nigeria together as one unit impossible, and Dissolution inevitable.
There is rising disgust among young people of Nigeria, finding themselves in a land where members of the legal profession and politicians have been deceiving them since 1999 with the make believe that the country has a Constitution. The Nigerian Bar Association, the Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), and politicians serving since 1999 to date at Federal and State levels will one day have to answer for this monumental deceit by explaining themselves, not only to Nigerians, but also to the watching world.
The behaviour of Nigeria’s political class and lawyers, who because of their profession ought to know better, towards what should have been the common good of the people, calls to mind what Oliver Cromwell said in 1653 when dismissing the Rump Parliament:
“It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonoured by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice. Ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government. Ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money. Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you?
Is there one vice you do not possess? Ye have no more religion than my horse. Gold is your God. Which of you have not bartered your conscience for bribes?
Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth?
Ye sordid prostitutes have you not defiled this sacred place, and turned the Lord's temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices?
Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation. You were deputed here by the people to get grievances redressed, are yourselves become the greatest grievance. Your country therefore calls upon me to cleanse this Augean stable, by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings in this House; and which by God's help, and the strength he has given me, I am now come to do. I command ye therefore, upon the peril of your lives, to depart immediately out of this place. Go, get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves be gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors. In the name of God, go!
The love of money is the root of all evil, and that would be the reason that politicians and lawyers of Nigeria decided to aid and abet, and partake in deceiving their people by upholding a 1999 Constitution that is illegitimate and that would not pass the test in any honest Court in the world. Young people deserve better than to continue to be entrapped victims of this deception, so NINAS (alliance of indigenous peoples of the South and Middle Belt) declared a Constitutional Force Majeure on 16th December 2020 to decommission the illegitimate 1999 Constitution.
The Steps to decommission this repudiated 1999 Constitution follow international law, plus are similar to the method used by South Africa to decommission an illegitimate Apartheid Constitution that Black people there had not made or agreed. These Steps parallel the Five Demands of the Constitutional Force Majeure.
STEP 1
The illegitimate and imposed 1999 Constitution had been Repudiated, then a Constitutional Force Majeure declared by NINAS over a Sovereignty Dispute. That concerns these two questions: When did the peoples submit themselves, their lands, and their assets into such a Union? When did the peoples make for themselves the 1999 Constitution? The Constitutional Force Majeure has made Nigeria a Disputed Project, and this also has international implications. Step 1 has been achieved.
STEP 2
The life of the 1999 Constitution is renewed by elections. That is because the winner swears an Oath of Office to uphold the 1999 Constitution. Therefore, political parties should not begin to prepare for general elections in 2023 under the repudiated 1999 Constitution, but are to Close Shop, even if temporarily, so that the processes for new and valid constitutional arrangements are first set in motion, plus the raging insecurity properly addressed. Step 2 is ongoing.
STEP 3
Modalities, then formation of a Transitional Government. This is a temporary and time-bound government with a LIMITED MANDATE to bring in Order, Security and rule of law. The Transitional Government will be regulated by United Nations and international law to prevent excesses. The current regime can therefore remain in place. State governments would remain intact. Step 3 has not yet started.
STEP 4
During the Transitional Government there will be Regional Referendums. Ethnic nationalities in Blocs/Groupings of their choice will decide to either Re-commit to, or Exit this Union. That means: Yoruba will decide whether Yoruba will remain in the Union. Ijaw will decide whether Ijaw will remain in the Union. Tiv will decide whether Tiv will remain in the Union. Urhobo will decide whether Urhobo will remain in the Union. Igbo will decide whether Igbo will remain in the Union, and so on. The lead self-determination organisations are Lower Niger Congress in the Lower Niger Bloc, Ìlànà Ọmọ Oòduà in the Yoruba Bloc, and Middle Belt Congress in the Middle Belt Bloc. Some aspects of Step 4 have already started with sensitization outreaches that Referendums will be taking place.
STEP 5
The results of the Regional Referendums will determine the arrangement the territory will ultimately have, and therefore what happens next.
The calibre of politicians, legal professionals, and because of the influence they have over people, we must also add, of religious leaders, has been disappointing. They have together turned Nigeria into what is called “a criminal enterprise”, because benefit for self seems to be the active motivator. Had Oliver Cromwell been alive, he would have known how to address them! Nevertheless, international eyes are on the leadership style in Nigeria. Some Western governments are considering sanctions on Nigerian officials for their misdemeanours. The USA has designated Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern.
The International Criminal Court is investigating Nigeria for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Jubilee Campaign (an acclaimed human rights organisation) has indicated that genocide is being carried out by terrorists and Fulani herdsmen militants.
The steps to end the grand deception of upholding an illegitimate 1999 Constitution are known to the political elite and legal practitioners, and a Constitutional Force Majeure has been declared. It is hoped that they will therefore do the right thing, and do the right thing the right way. If not, they make Restructuring and keeping Nigeria together as one unit impossible, and Dissolution inevitable.
Ndidi Uwechue is a retired Metropolitan (London) Police Officer and a Pro-Social Advocate. Her personal mission is to use every means available "To produce a safer and more caring Nigeria". She writes from Abuja or from Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State.