…says nominations for Chairman, Secretary of FCC Negates Federal Character
The national chairman of the Emerging Leaders Forum of Nigeria (ELFON; Rt.Hon. Godstime Chukwubuikem Samuel has called on the Senate of the federal republic of Nigeria to reject the nomination of candidates from Kwara and Taraba for chairman, and secretary, respectively, of Federal Character Commission, FCC.
Speaking to an online media correspondent, the ELFON chairman said the nomination violated Section 4 of the subsidiary legislation which states that the distribution of position shall be across the two divides and zones.
Godstime said that it had always been the tradition that Chairman and Secretary are from the North and South, respectively, for the same reason past governments, including that of Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, had appointed northerners as chairmen and southerners as secretaries.
Godstime opined that “where the number of positions available cannot go round the states of the federation, the distribution shall be on zonal basis, but in the case where two positions are available, the positions shall be shared between the northern and southern zones.”
He added that “Chapter 2 Sec14(3) of Nigeria’s constitution expressly mandates that ‘The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few state or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that government or in any of its agencies’.
“while we pray for national unity, our leaders who are holding positions of trust in government must avoid violating this onerous ingenious and ambitious affirmative actions entrenched in our constitution to promote national unity uniquely named Federal Character”, Godstime expressed.
The young ELFON chairman who doubles as the national speaker of the Youth Assembly of Nigeria (YAN) said the consistent negation of a critical national consensus should be resisted and rejected by all well-meaning Nigerians starting from the Senate.
According to him, the seeds of national discord has been systematically sowed over the years and the Emerging Leaders Forum of Nigeria (ELFON) and indeed the Youth Assembly of Nigeria (YAN) are passionately calling that it should be halted.
Godstime therefore called on the Senate to speedily emphasis the supremacy of our constitution and the need to build an inclusive state using this FCC nominations to set a good example having acknowledged receipt of the President Buhari’s letter to the Senate requesting confirmation of nominees for the FCC.
According to the letter, the chairman-nominee is Dr. Muheeba Farida Dankaka from Kwara state while the secretary is from Taraba state. There are 36 other nominees as members.
The Senate had on February 25, 2020 asked President Buhari to, as a matter of urgency, reconstitute the Federal Character Commission, saying the acting chairman had been acting as a Sole Administrator since 2015. According to the Senate, failure to put in place the Chairman and members of Commission by the President would amount to a total breach of the Act establishing the Federal Character Commission and the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
