Northern coalition asks National Assembly to halt constitution review

The Coalition of Northern Groups has asked the National Assembly to suspend the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution, saying it is ill-timed and uncalled for.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, the group’s spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman said, the group demands the immediate suspension of the ongoing exercise and urges the government to concentrate on the priority of determining who and what constitutes Nigeria as a nation.

The group cited the present circumstance in which they accused the Igbos of taking up arms against the Nigerian state, for the third time, saying it has foreclosed every hope of a continued coexistence as a nation.

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Suleiman said the National Assembly should invoke the doctrine of necessity, and organise a referendum to allow people of the South East to decide whether or not they want to remain in the Nigerian federation.

“We further demand that the national assembly should prevail on the Federal Government of Nigeria to invite the United Nations as well as the African Union and ECOWAS, to initiate the process of self-determination to mandate the Biafrans out of the Nigerian union by leveraging on the several relevant international treaties and conventions to which Nigeria is a signatory.

“Today, everyone can see that the diabolical scheme planned and exhibited in the actions and clamours of IPOB, supported morally and politically by the vast majority of the pliant and affrighted Igbo elites, politicians, traditional rulers, business persons, and the larger population of this ethnic group has pushed Nigeria to the precipice,” Suleiman added.

By Victor Uzoho…

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