The appointments by President Muhammadu Buhari is still being trailed by controversy as a lawyer, Dim-Udebuani Marcel is suing him for violating the principle of federal character enshrined in the nation’s Constitution.
The suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/732/2015, with the chairman of Federal Character Commission (FCC) as 2nd defendant in the matter was filed on Tuesday, September 1, at the Abuja division of the Federal High Court, Vanguard reports.
In the originating summons, the plaintiff, asked the court to determine, “Whether the total of the twenty-five (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 twenty-five (25) appointments made so far by the 1st defendant is unconstitutional and divisive among others.”
Marcel is praying the court to compel President Buhari to reverse all the 25 major appointments made so far by the president for being in breach of the constitution.
He also wants the court to nullify all the appointments made so far.
Dim-Udebuani, anchored his prayers on the grounds, “that the Federal Republic of Nigeria is a country for all the citizens, South-East inclusive.
“That the 2nd defendant is a creation of constitution of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“That the entire five (5) states that make up South-East geo-political zone have no appointment yet.”
The plaintiff said the North-East, North-West, North-Central, South-West and South-South have had representations in the appointments made so far.
According to Marcel, he decided to drag Buhari to court because as a lawyer, he had sworn an oath to defend and protect the nation’s constitution.
The lawyer, who insisted that Buhari’s appointments were “highly lopsided” argued that in the interest of justice and promotion of rule of law, the court must reverse the appointments.
The matter is yet to be assigned to any judge for hearing.
The last set of appointments by Buhari which were announced last week has been criticized by a number of Nigerians who accused the President of making lopsided appointments, mostly in favour of people from the Northern part of the country like himself.
So far, nobody from the South-East zone has been appointed into any position by the Buhari administration.
A pan Igbo socio-political group, the South East Town Unions said the appointment that heavily favours the north is capable of threatening the unity of Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the national publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC),Lai Mohammed, on Monday said it was too early to judge Buhari’s administration based on the few appointments made so far.
No comments:
Post a Comment