Constitutional Dispute

THE 1999 CONSTITUTION IS NOW DELEGITIMIZED AND DECOMMISSIONING PROCESSES HAVE NOW BEEN ACTIVATED.

(Being a NINAS Special Milestone Report on the Implementation of the December 16, 2020, Constitutional Force Majeure, Presented at a Press Conference on the 3rd Anniversary of the NINAS Declaration of a Sovereignty/Union Dispute by way of the said Constitutional Force Majeure).
NINAS Board of Conveners
16 December 2023

Protocols

Dear Compatriots, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press.

I welcome you on behalf of the Board of Conveners of the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS).

We invited you here today to share with you the Spectacular Progress being made in the implementation of the Joint Multi-Regional Constitutional Force Majeure Declared on December 16, 2020, and the next steps in the Implementation Processes, as a part of our Celebrations and Stock-Taking at the Third Anniversary of the said Constitutional Force Majeure.

We wish to State as follows:

(1) You will recall that on the 16th Day of December 2020, NINAS Activated the Joint Multi-Regional Constitutional Force Majeure by which it Declared a Union Dispute in the Federation of Nigeria, issuing a 90-day Notice of Grave Constitutional Grievances to the Government of the Federation of Nigeria and Presenting a Five-Point Proposition by which those Grievances could be addressed, including the Suspension of further National Elections under the 1999 Constitution and the Initiation of an Immediate Transitioning Arrangement to Undertake the Long-Overdue Constitutional Reconstruction of Unitary Nigeria.

(2) You will recall that at the Expiration of the 90-Day Period of Notice, NINAS Addressed a World Press Conference in Ibadan, on March 17, 2021, at which it announced a 30-Day Period of Consultations being extended to the Governments and Elected officials of the States of the Federation of Nigeria since the 90-Day Notice of December 16, 2020, was directed to the Government of the Federation of Nigeria.

(3) Upon the Expiration of the 30-day Period, NINAS by another World Press Conference in Lagos, declared a 120-day Period of Consultations with the Peoples and Ethnic Nations of Nigeria, sundry interests, and the Stakeholder Community in the International Circuit, including the United Nations Security Council and the United Nations Trusteeship Council as well as Governments of the United States, the European Union, China, Russia, and a few others.

(4) Upon the completion of these Consultations which ran concurrently with Enlightenment Campaigns with the Populace and Stakeholders, NINAS intensified engagements with Groups that were mobilizing towards the 2023 General Elections but the Government, the Political Parties, the Prospective Candidates, Civil Society Groups and the Religious Leaders all pushed rambunctiously towards Elections under the same Unitary Constitution that Guarantees the Dysfunctions and Failures of Nigeria, including Insecurity, Corruption, Impunity, Infrastructural Decay, Mass Impoverishment, and Serial Electoral Heists.

Young people were hoodwinked by those who knew better into believing that Leadership was the Major Problem of Nigeria and so in that belief, they rallied massively behind the Candidate they believed would offer the great Leadership that would turn Nigeria into a Great Country. Their Movement became known as the ‘Obidient Movement’ with Candidate Peter Obi as their battle-axe for rescuing Nigeria from demons that they could see.

The noise of Elections drowned the strident voice of NINAS which kept pointing at the dangers that were encircling Nigeria and Nigerians from all sides.

(5) February 2023 came and voting took place. Everything that could go wrong went wrong with results; INEC and the Judiciary completed the circuit and Nigeria went into a free fall as predicted by NINAS and as guaranteed by the Unitary Constitution of Nigeria which was directly responsible for everything that went wrong with the Elections. The rest as they say is history.

Almost instantly, from Fuel Price Hikes the free Fall of the Naira to an astronomical rise in the cost of living, particularly in Foodstuffs; Lamentations and Disillusionment led to more exodus of young people to Foreign Lands, fleeing from their Country that fed on their blood like a monster.

NINAS’ verdict on the entire 2023 Electoral Charade (especially the defiance of the already disputed Constitution of Nigeria by both INEC and the Judiciary to produce the preconceived outcomes from the Election), was that Nigeria had landed itself in an Interregnum in which there is a Government in Power but which lacked Legitimacy.

(6) The worst outcome of the 2023 Elections is what has now crystallized as State Capture in which all Arms of Government and Institutions of State have openly capitulated to the rampage and onslaught of the Agents of the brazen State Capture, complete with massive looting of whatever is left of Nigeria, even as Foreign Loans are recklessly contracted for consumption purposes. Young People began to shout ‘Revolution, Revolution’ all over the place, looking longingly at the recent string of People’s Revolts across the West African Sub-Region.

(7) Apparently frightened by the rapid descent of Nigeria towards anarchy, more voices began to emerge from high places in support of the immediate Constitutional Reengineering of Nigeria, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Chief Emeka Anyaoku with the likes of Prof Pat Utomi and Prof Kingsley Moghalu, who had all plunged heedlessly into the 2023 Electoral Fray. Everyone now agrees that the Unworkable Unitary Constitution of Nigeria is the source of practically all the problems of Nigeria, including Insecurity, Corruption, Infrastructural Decay, Mass Poverty, and the General Hopelessness pervading the land.

The question on every lip now is, “How exactly do we get rid of the 1999 Constitution?”

Others ask: “Where does Nigeria Go From Here?”

Without any hesitation, NINAS will ask all those who are asking these questions: “Is there anyone or group in Nigeria including the Government and the Political Parties, that has a better Proposition for addressing the Anomalous Constitutional Arrangements of Nigeria, than NINAS which since December 16, 2020, placed on the Table, a Comprehensive Practical Plan for the immediate undertaking of the Constitutional Reconstruction of Nigeria following a 20-Year Painstaking Process that began right from the 1999 imposition of the Unitary Constitution that has now brought Nigeria to its knees?”

Without being immodest, we have no doubt that the answer to this question is a resounding No.

It is on the basis of this reality that NINAS will request all Stakeholders including the Government of Nigeria, Political Parties, Statesmen, and other Stakeholders, to find the courage to embrace this Proposition of NINAS as the last available peaceful and orderly mechanism for taking Nigeria to immediate Union Reconstruction, in a process that offers the existing Governance Structures an accommodation by way of a Transitioning Arrangement. The alternative will most likely be a disorderly and most likely Violent Disintegration of Nigeria, triggering a Refugee crisis on an unprecedented scale.

(8) NINAS observes with concern that the Government of the day seems determined to sidetrack the NINAS route to Redemption by groping about in the dark in the search for other Solutions that will retain the Stranglehold on the Sovereignty of the Constituent Components of Nigeria, now being Restored by the Two-Stage Union Reconstruction Process contained in the NINAS Five-Point Proposition.

The Government and agents of the system have gone from one form of amorphous Restructuring suggestion to lame talk about recourse to the Report of the 2014 Political Reforms Conference, to suggestions about a return to the 1963 Constitution, to the recent Invitation by the Leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), to ALL Lawyers in Nigeria, to submit Memoranda on Constitution-Amendments. The latest dubious suggestion on the subject was made by Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), at the December 14, 2023, Abuja Colloquium in which he invited the National Assembly of Nigeria to draw some imaginary powers from Section 4(1) of the 1999 Constitution, to replace that Constitution wholesale without any recourse to the Sovereign Constituent Components (Peoples) of Nigeria.

This is an invitation to a bigger fraud than the Fraud of 1999 enacted by Abdulsalami Abubakar and this is Treasonous. The further Tragedy is that both Tinubu and Akpabio Openly Hailed that dubious suggestion by Agbakoba as actionable.

The common strand with all the Constitutional Reconstruction options listed above is that the Constitution Amendment will be the mechanism, while the National Assembly will be the venue for undertaking the Constitutional Reconstruction of Nigeria.

For the avoidance of doubt, NINAS completely Rejects and will vehemently oppose any suggestion that seeks to take the Union Reconstruction Undertaking to the National Assembly because such a procedure will reinforce the lockdown of the Sovereignty of the Constituent Peoples of Nigeria, hijacked and detained from the Colonial Era, to date. This is the jinx that the NINAS Proposition has broken.

(9) NINAS is pleased to inform the Peoples of Nigeria, home and abroad, that the 1999 Constitution has been Delegitimized and that the Processes for the Decommissioning of that Constitution have been activated. What this means is that the Imposed Constitutional Instruments by which the Sovereignty and Assets of the Constituent Peoples of Nigeria were Forcefully Confiscated and Conscripted into the Nigerian Project are now Defeated and Disabled.

The People of Nigeria are now at Liberty to Decide Whether or Not they wish to Federate afresh, and if yes, on what Terms.

The Unitary Union of Nigeria Currently Anchored Upon and Defined by the 1999 Constitution is now at its Terminus and so Nigeria must now choose BETWEEN Immediate Transitioning for Union Reconfiguration AND Immediate Union Dissolution, most likely by Default or by the Uncoordinated Unilateral actions of Aggrieved Constituent Components of the Defunct Federation of Nigeria that died since the 1966-1967 toppling of the Federating Constitutions but the carcass of which is still being operated as the Federal Republic of Nigeria by an illicit “Federal Government”.

(10) NEXT-STEPS IN THE DECOMMISSIONING
PROCESSES OF THE DISTRESSED 1999 CONSTITUTION AND A CALL TO ACTION.

(a) The Strategic Objective of the NINAS Constitutional Force Majeure as summarized in the Five-Point Proposition of the Force Majeure Proclamation, is to bring Nigeria to an Orderly Constitutional Reconstruction via a Transitioning Arrangement, in a Determinable timeframe with a Process that outlines in clear detail and sequence, WHAT exactly needs to be done, WHO has to do it, WHEN It has to be done and HOW it has to be done, Step-By-Step, Start-to-Finish.

Constructed on the Self-Determination Imperative for the Constituent Components of Nigeria, the NINAS Proposition Demystifies the entire “Restructuring” Debate whilst offering accommodation to existing Governance Structures by way of a Transitioning Arrangement, with outcome options that range from Proper FEDERATION, CONFEDERATION, to the emergence of Independent Units of Successor-SOVEREIGN State Entities from the ruins of the Defunct Federation of Nigeria, all in a Two-Stage Orderly Process that will be Ratified by Referendums.

(b) With the Spectacular Success of the NINAS Constitutional Force Majeure in the DELEGITIMIZATION of the 1999 Constitution and the Activation of the DECOMMISSIONING Processes, Next-Steps for NINAS will entail rallying together for joint action all those who now agree with NINAS, that the Imposed and Unworkable Unitary Constitution of Nigeria, is the Problem with Nigeria and that the immediate Wholesale Decommissioning of that Constitution has become an urgent Imperative to halt the Dangerous Drift towards Anarchy; to arrest the Free-Fall of Nigeria on all fronts; to arrest the ongoing State-Capture of Nigeria by Merchants of Power and to save Nigerians from the foreseeable disastrous consequences of the Disorderly collapse of Nigeria.

To this end, NINAS will in the First Quarter (Q-1) of 2024, put out an invitation (Altar Call), to all who agree with the NINAS Five Point Proposition for Union Reconstruction, and who therefore agree that the Operation of the Death-Dispensing 1999 Constitution must be wound up forthwith and a Transitioning Arrangement initiated, to commence the Renegotiation, Reconfiguration and Reconstruction of the Damaged Constitutional Basis of Nigeria, using the Processes outlined in the aforementioned NINAS Five-Point Proposition.

(c) Ahead of that formal invitation, NINAS requests all concerned, to join in the urgent task of Disseminating the NINAS Message so that we can more quickly attain the critical mass of those who are sufficiently informed, to act together in a Joint Jailbreak from the Prison of Unitary Nigeria.

Thank you for your attention.
Issued this 16th Day of December 2023 by the NINAS Board of Conveners.

NINAS SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: NIGERIA’S 1999 CONSTITUTION IS NOW DELEGITIMIZED AND MOBILIZATION IS COMMENCING FOR ITS DECOMMISSIONING

(Being an Anniversary Milestone Update Issued on December 16, 2022, on the Implementation of the NINAS Constitutional Force Majeure).
NINAS Board of Conveners
16 December 2022

(1) Let it be recalled that:

(i) By virtue of the December 16, 2020 90-day Notice of Grave Constitutional Grievances to the Federal Government of Nigeria and the consequential Joint Multi-Regional Constitutional Force Majeure (CFM) Proclamation, the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS) Declared a Union Dispute bordering on the Sovereignty Questions arising from the Illegitimacy and Fraudulence of the imposed Unitary Constitution (1999) of the distressed Federation of Nigeria.

(ii) The CFM Proclamation made a Five-Point Proposition, outlining an Orderly Process Framework by which the Repudiated 1999 Constitution could be eased out and by which Successor-Constitutional Protocols dictated by the Self-Determination imperative for trapped Constituent Components of Nigeria, could be distilled.

(iii) The said Five-Point Proposition could be summarized as follows:
– (a) An Acknowledgment of the Grave Constitutional Grievances raised in the Union Dispute as Declared.
– (b) An Express Commitment to Decommission the imposed 1999 Unitary Constitution.
– (c) An Express Commitment to shelve further National Elections under the 1999 Constitution in order to initiate an immediate Transitioning Process for Fresh Constitutional Protocols.
– (d) An Invitation to the Constituent Peoples of Nigeria to work out the Modalities for the Transitioning Arrangements including Mandate timeframe, Membership, and Ancillary Matters.
– (e) Announcement of a Time-Bound, Two-Stage Transitioning Process which shall in the First Stage feature Multi-Regional Referendums by which erstwhile Constituent Components shall recommit to or opt out of the Nigerian Union; and in the Second, distill Terms of Union, as may be dictated by the outcome of the Referendums.

(2) Let it be noted that:

(i) In the 90 Days Period of Notice that commenced from the said December 16, 2020, Force Majeure Proclamation, the Federal Government of Nigeria, whilst evading direct engagements with NINAS, in an obvious knee-jerk response, rolled out through its Legislative Arm, (ie the National Assembly), a bogus “Constitution Amendment” Exercise, lining up issues that relate to the Grave Constitutional Grievances outlined in the Force Majeure Proclamation, but a far cry from measures necessary for addressing those Grievances. That Amendment Exercise fell like a pack of cards when NINAS exposed the insincerity of the Federal Government for going the route of Amendments, especially because the Force Majeure Proclamation itself clearly established the fact that the Legislative Mandate of the National Assembly does not extend to Constitution-making as the National Assembly does not have Constituent Powers required for Constitution-making.

(ii) At the Expiration of the 90-day notice to the Federal Government, NINAS Announced a 30-day Period of Consultations with State Governors and other Elected Officials from the Alliance Territory (March 17, and 2021-April 16, 2021). Again, the Governors, (particularly of the South), instead of coming forward, hurried to Asaba to declare that they would all pass Anti-Open Grazing Laws by September of 2021 in obvious response to pressures by their Constituents ignited by the NINAS Constitutional Force Majeure. The Asaba Declaration of the Governors of course fell far short of what their Constituents were expecting to see.

(iii) At the April 16, 2021 Expiration of the aforementioned 30-day Period, NINAS Announced 120 days of Consultations with the People of Nigeria, the Stakeholders of the International Community, and other interests. In this period of 120 Days that ran up to August 16, 2021, we saw the various Nationalities across the South and middle belt of Nigeria on the streets, Marching for Self-Determination, Demanding Referendums, in the embrace of NINAS Grand Propositions for the Constitutional Reconstruction of the Nigerian Union. These Street Marches were replicated by our Diaspora in various countries and cities, culminating in the Joint Multi-Regional Freedom March at the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York, in September of 2021, even as a NINAS Referendum Petition was addressed to the Security Council of the United Nations.

(3) Unobtrusive as the NINAS Campaign was, it must now be acknowledged that in the Two Years between the December 16, 2020 Activation of the Constitutional Force Majeure and December 16, 2022, the intensive Enlightenment and Sensitization Campaign of NINAS has galvanized a Countrywide Consensus against the imposed Unitary Constitution of Nigeria (1999). It must also be acknowledged that in this Period, the NINAS Alliance has objectively identified the Caliphate Proprietors and Enforcers of Unitary Nigeria in a manner that sets that Recalcitrant Minority against the Super-Majority Alliance of the Rest of Nigeria (ie NINAS).

These two monumental achievements, namely the Countrywide Consensus against the 1999 Constitution and the Isolation of the Caliphate Enforcers of the Unitary Nigeria foisted by that Constitution, go to the very core of the Nigerian Union Dispute and therefore constitute evidence of SUCCESS in the realization of the Main Objectives of the NINAS Constitutional Force Majeure, Declared December 16, 2020.

(4) ACCORDINGLY, WE DECLARE THAT:

(I) It is self-evident that the onslaught against the 1999 Constitution unleashed by the Enlightenment and Sensitization Phase of the Implementation of the NINAS Constitutional Force Majeure, has Successfully DELEGITIMIZED the 1999 Constitution as the Basis of the Nigerian Union and has therefore raised an Urgent Question about the Basis and Purpose of Further National Elections in 2023 under that 1999 Constitution since the entire country now acknowledges that the 1999 Constitution is a Fraud upon which we cannot continue the construction of the Nigerian Union and its Democracy.

(ii) It is also Self-Evident that the NINAS Alliance has Successfully ISOLATED and INCAPACITATED the Caliphate Enforcers of Unitary Nigeria which continues to cling desperately and tenaciously to the Dying 1999 Constitution as the Basis of Union.

(iii) It is significant to Note that even in the International Circuit, the Dynamics have changed radically in favor of the NINAS Alliance since the Caliphate Proprietors of Unitary Nigeria who are openly sympathetic to, and unabashedly entangled with Terror Groups like Boko Haram and ‘Fulani Herdsmen’ Militia, has in pursuit of Sharia and Feudalism, gone into open Alliances with Global Terror Networks, particularly ISIS, floating ISWAP. This Complicity with Terror has pitched that Caliphate against the Western Powers that are at War with those Terror Networks in the Middle East.

The DELEGITIMIZATION of the 1999 Constitution and the ISOLATION of its Proprietors and Enforcers thus marks the end of the Sensitization and Enlightenment Phase of the Implementation of the NINAS Constitutional Force Majeure, bringing us to the Commencement of the Mobilization Phase for the Wholesale Decommissioning of that Illicit Constitution.

That Mobilization for DECOMMISSIONING shall commence December 17, 2022, and shall continue until a critical mass is attained to enact ENFORCEMENT.

(5) LET IT BE UNDERSTOOD that the Process of DECOMMISSIONING which must now follow the DELEGITIMIZATION of the 1999 Constitution may be as outlined in the Five-Point Proposition of the NINAS Constitutional Force Majeure in which case a TRANSITIONING Arrangement is initiated according to the Prescriptions of the said Five-Point Proposition. The Decommissioning may also be by way of Unilateral actions of the Alliance Blocs if no common ground is found early enough to Initiate an Orderly Transitioning Process as Prescribed by the NINAS Propositions.

For the avoidance of doubt, with the Demise of the 1999 Constitution and the Collapse of the 1967 Alliance that imposed it, We Must Now Disperse Except something happens to get us Discussing the Inevitable Union Reconstruction.

For those who in the face of the Union Dispute we have raised, chose to railroad the Distressed Federation of Nigeria to another round of National Elections in 2023 under the Disputed 1999 Constitution, be it known to you that you cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stand there, and so the winner of the 2023 Elections will find no Nigeria to Govern if that Nigeria is the one Defined by the so-called “1999 Constitution”, (that is if the country manages to wobble to the Elections).

In the days ahead, the NINAS Secretariat and Field Operations shall provide directions for how the multitudes of our people who agree with the NINAS Propositions will join the practical tasks of Mobilization towards the Decommissioning of the Delegitimized 1999 Constitution. Those rushing to the 2023 Elections Mandated by the same 1999 Constitution that enslaved them, instead of joining the push for immediate TRANSITIONING, should be clear in their minds that the choice they have made is tantamount to reinforcing their bondage. For reasons that have been clearly explained in the NINAS Extraordinary Alerts Broadcasts Series, NINAS can tell you authoritatively that the suggestion that ‘the new President will fix the Constitution’ is untenable and a deceit to lure you to your Damnation. We invite you to examine the “NINAS Interrogatories to Political Parties” on our website, YouTube, or Google, to clear your doubts.

We Must Now Take Responsibility for Our Future and Take Charge of Our Spaces.

Issued this 16th Day of December 2022.
For: NINAS Board of Conveners

THE CONSTITUTIONAL FORCE MAJEURE AND A COUNTDOWN TO THE ENTHRONEMENT OF THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE

(Being the Text of a Stocktaking, Status, and Next-Steps Statement, Presented December 19, 2021, by the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination, NINAS at a World Press Conference in Lagos, One Year after the December 16, 2020 Activation of the Joint Multi-Regional Constitutional Force Majeure, CFM).

Theme: Terminating the Fraud of 1999 PROTOCOLS

Dear Compatriots and Gentlemen of the Press;

WHEREAS:

(A) By a Joint Multi-Regional Constitutional Force Majeure (CFM) Proclamation, the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS) Declared a Union Dispute, on the Ground of Grave Constitutional Grievances, with a Five-Point Demand and 90 days of Notice to the Government of the Federation of Nigeria, within which Formal Commitments must be made by the Federal Government of Nigeria for the Resolution of those Grave Grievances, Failing which the Peoples of the Alliance Territories may Reconsider the Limited Toleration and Allegiance being extended to 1he Disputed 1999 Constitution. An Online Petition Addressed to the UN Security Council was launched by NINAS to keep the International Community abreast of developments in Nigeria regarding the aforementioned Union Dispute.

(B) For ease of reference, we reproduce here, the Five-Point Demand of the NINAS CFM which now stands as the Five-Point Proposition of NINAS to the Peoples of Nigeria, currently being pursued vigorously by the Peoples themselves to retrieve their Sovereignty, Hijacked since 1967 by the “Federal Government”:

i. A Formal Announcement by the Federal Government of Nigeria acknowledging the Constitutional Grievances and Sovereignty Dispute now Declared by the Peoples of the South and middle belt of Nigeria.

ii. A Formal Commitment by the Federal Government of Nigeria to the wholesale Decommissioning and Jettisoning of the 1999 Constitution as the Basis of the Federation of Nigeria as was done by the Government of Apartheid-Era South Africa in 1990, to commence the process by which the Apartheid Constitution of the then South Africa was eased out.

iii. A Formal Announcement by the Federal Government of Nigeria suspending further General Elections under the Disputed 1999 Constitution since winners of such Elections will Swear to, and Govern by that Constitution.

iv. A Formal Initiation of a Time-Bound Transitioning Process to midwife the emergence of Fresh Constitutional Protocols by a Two-Stage Process in which the Constituent Regional Blocs will at the first stage, Distill and Ratify their various Constitutions by Referendums and Plebiscites and in the second stage, Negotiate the Terms of Federating afresh as may be dictated by the outcomes of Referendum and Plebiscites.

v. A Formal Invitation to the Peoples of the South and Middle-Belt of Nigeria to work out and emplace a Transitional Authority, which shall specify the Modalities for the Transitioning Process including the Composition and Mandate of the Transitional Authority as well as the time frame for the Transitioning and other Ancillary Matters.

(C) At the Expiration of the 90-day Notice, March 16, 2021, 30 days of Consultations were extended to the State Governors and other Elected Officials from March 17, 2021, after which another 120 days of Consultations were extended to the People of Nigeria and the Stakeholder-Segment of the International Community from April 17, 2021, concluded August 16, 2021. Thereafter, a Million-Man Freedom March was staged at the UN Headquarters in New York on September 14-24, 2021 during the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly.

(D) The outcome of these Notices and Consultations has been spectacular and successful as they forced to the front burner, a much more enlightened Debate around the Agitations for a Grand Reconfiguration of the Damaged Constitutional Foundations of the Distressed Nigerian Federation, producing a Countrywide Consensus against the Unitary Constitution of Nigeria.

(E) Specifically, the Federal Government of Nigeria in response to the NINAS CFM, rushed to the National Assembly for Constitution Amendments targeted as some kind of Palliative to the Grievances raised, but the National Assembly for the first time, confessed it does not possess the constituent powers required to make or remake Constitution for Nigeria.

(F) Pressured by their People, the Governors of the Southern States, decided in their Maiden Meeting in Asaba, to pass Anti-Open Grazing Laws by September of 2021, and followed with a decision in another Meeting in Lagos to insist on the right of being consulted by the Federal Government ahead of any Military Deployments in their States. Most of the States have since Passed the Anti-Open Grazing Laws but the Governor of Benue State has taken one more step in also signing a Law under which Local Security Outfits could carry Arms. (NINAS expects that other Governors of the South and Middle-Belt Alliance Territories will follow the courageous example of the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom since the Invading Fulani Militia “Herdsmen” are armed with assault rifles).

(G) The People of Nigeria in response to the Increasingly Loud Campaign for Self-Determination which followed the December 16, 2020, NINAS Constitutional Force Majeure, poured out on the Streets in Pursuit of their Right to Self-Determination, particularly in Yorubaland, taking their Campaign to the Streets of New York, Washington DC, London, and European Cities where Easterners have been clamoring for the same Right

(H) On the International Circuit, the US did cancel an Order for Attack Helicopters from Nigeria and China canceled a $ 1 billion Loan on Nigeria in circumstances that indicate that both the US and China were paying close attention to the Union Dispute raging in Nigeria.

It is against the backdrop of these happenings and upon a review of all that has happened since the December 16, 2020 Activation of the Constitutional Force Majeure that we invite you here today to share with you, information on the Commencement of the Retirement Processes for the 1999 Constitution, for which we state as follows:

(1) As Nigeria continues to wobble in the throes of State Failure, writhing in blood, and as the Constituent Components of Nigeria continue their Frantic search for extrication from the bondage of Unitary Nigeria, that has become for them, a Union of Death, Attrition, and Backwardness, we invited you here today to Announce to our People and the Concerned International Community, the Success of our December 16, 2020, Constitutional Force Majeure in Precipitating the Countrywide Consensus required for the IMMEDIATE Decommissioning of the Caliphate-Imposed 1999 Unitary Constitution of Nigeria by which we are in bondage in our Homelands and from which all the many Miseries, Woes and Failures of Nigeria and Nigerians Flow.

(2) Standing on this Countrywide Consensus that now includes practically all the Constituent Ethnic Nationalities of Nigeria, the Federal Government (via the Restructure-to-Reduce-Cost-of-Governance Prescription by the Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation in the presence of his Principal, the President) and the Conservative North (Umar Ghali Na’Abba Obsolete-Constitution Thesis), for the wholesale Jettisoning of the 1999 Constitution, it is therefore with a huge sense of relief that we announce to you today, the Commencement of the Peoples-led Processes for the Orderly Retirement of the 1999 Constitution.

(3) Still on the Question Consensus amongst the Ethnic Constituent Components of Nigeria on the total Rejection of Master-Servant Union imposed on them by 1999 as well as the Self-Determination Imperative for the Peoples of Nigeria, NINAS, firmly supports the Far-Reaching Decisions on Self-Preservation by the All Ijaw Summit in Yenagoa of December 4, 2021, particularly Resolutions A, B, C, D E & F, relating to Ijaw Rejection of Nigeria’s current Unitary Constitutional Arrangements as well as the Unequivocal Resolve to Pursue and Actualize the Ijaw Inalienable Right to Self-Determination using all Peaceful, Diplomatic and other Non-Violent Tools including Civil-Disobedience.

(4) Let it be known to the whole World and the Operators of the Nigerian State, that this Position Clearly Articulated by the Ijaw for themselves in the aforementioned December 4, 2021 Declarations, largely applies to and represents the collective Aspiration and Resolve of the rest of the Indigenous Nationalities of Nigeria, particularly in the South and Middle-Belt, now cooperating as NINAS.

(5) Let it also be known that the purpose of December 16, 2020, Joint Multi-Regional Constitutional Force Majeure Proclamation by the Nigerian Indigenous Alliance for Self-Determination NINAS (Full Text published as Advertorial on Pages 38, 39, 40, and 41 of January 20, 2021, Edition of the Guardian Newspaper of Nigeria), was to Aggregate the Grave Constitutional Grievances of the Constituent Components of Nigeria, (such as was raised by the All Ijaw Summit in their December 4, 2021, Declaration at Yenagoa) and to Provide a Viable, Time-Bound Framework and Process, for an Orderly Resolution of those Grievances, within the Context of the Self-Determination Rights of each of the Nationalities currently trapped in the Failed Lugardian Experiment of 1914.

(6) It is significant to note that December 16, 2020, NINAS CFM Proclamation Incorporated and Adopted November 16, 2018, OPEN MEMORANDUM TO PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI ON THE RESTRUCTURING DEBATE written by the NINAS ALLIANCE as a comprehensive articulation of the exact Meaning of “Restructuring”, as well as the Step-by-Step Procedure for Undertaking that inevitable Fundamental Reconfiguration of the damaged Constitutional Basis of Nigeria (Guardian Newspaper of November 18, 2018). We make bold to say that this OPEN MEMO offers the clearest guide for addressing the Grave Constitutional Grievances raging across Nigeria as encapsulated in the Union Dispute raised by the NINAS Constitutional Force Majeure Proclamation, now driving Nigeria to a disorderly collapse.

(7) As indicated in the 5-Point Proposition by NINAS, the Successor-Constitutional Arrangements dictated by the Self-Determination Right of the Peoples of Nigeria, shall be ratified by Referendums and Plebiscites, to be undertaken during a period of Transitioning that would commence from the Point at which a Formal Announcement is made suspending Preparations for Further National Elections under the Repudiated 1999 Constitution.

(8) As we prepare to commence the Practical Winding-Up Processes for, an Orderly Retirement of the 1999 Constitution, let us remind ourselves that everything we currently lament in Nigeria Flows from the 1999 Unitary Constitution, whether it is the killings going on everywhere in Nigeria, the General Insecurity, the seizure of all Economic Assets including Oil and Gas, the Ports and other Maritime Assets, Solid Minerals including Gold, the Monumental Corruption we see, Quota System and skewed Opportunities Distribution, the Egregious Impunity constantly on display, the Decay in Infrastructure, the Lack of Electricity and mounting Tariffs, the Broken Down Refineries and the frequent hike in Petroleum Prices: everything flows from the 1999 Constitution, especially the 68-Item Federal Exclusive Legislative List. Also, there is no possibility of the Rule of Law under a Worse-Than-Apartheid 1999 Constitution.

Nothing will get better in Nigeria under this Unitary Constitutional Order no matter who gets to Power.

(9) Let us also remind ourselves that whether we seek Regional Autonomy, Resource Control, or Outright Exit from Nigeria to become an Independent Sovereign State, the first order of business is the Decommissioning and Easing out of the 1999 Constitution, then a Transitioning Process during which Referendums, Plebiscites, and Negotiations for Fresh Protocols will be undertaken as indicated in the NINAS Five-Point Proposition.

NOW TO THE ACTION WE MUST TAKE TO COMMENCE THE DECOMMISSIONING AND ORDERLY RETIREMENT OF THE 1999 CONSTITUTION

LOGIC:
It is no longer a matter for debate:

(A) That the Source from which the Woes and Miseries of Nigeria and Nigerians Flow is the 1999 Unitary Constitution of Nigeria.

(B) That the life of the 1999 Constitution is renewed and reinforced once every Four Years by General Elections.

(C) That only Political Parties Contest Elections in Nigeria as declared by the Supreme Court of Nigeria in a Governorship Election Suit from Rivers State.

(D) That ALL Political Parties in Nigeria subscribe to the 1999 Constitution and therefore contest Elections under that Constitution.

This means that whichever Party wins the General Elections in Nigeria, the Elected Candidate must as a prerequisite for assuming Office, Swear to, and Govern by the 1999 Constitution. This further means that after each round of Elections, the Constitution and all the Debilitating Structures and Provisions Erected by it, remain intact and so also the Woes of Nigeria and Nigerians, getting only worse.

From the foregoing, it is clear that whoever genuinely seeks to extinguish the Source of the Woes and Miseries of Nigeria and Nigerians, must find a way to break this set cycle of periodic Renewal of the Life of the 1999 Constitution by way of Elections.

Unfortunately, on account of the humongous personal financial and other benefits that flow from Political Power in Nigeria, the Political Parties and Political Merchants of Nigeria, who are fully aware of the evils embedded in the 1999 Constitution, choose to be dishonest by constantly grandstanding about changing the lives of the People for better or bringing down paradise for the People if Voted into Power knowing fully that nothing will change for the Masses.

They prefer to take advantage of the Ignorance of the Masses, who despite being the Victims of the Impoverishment and Deadly Malfeasances of the 1999 Constitution, get easily lured every Four Years by the Political Parties and Political Merchants, into Elections under the same 1999 Constitution that simultaneously Guarantees their Damnation as well as the Opulence of the Political Merchants.

The Next Round of Renewal for the Source of our Collective Misery (ie Elections) is in 2023.

The Action to be Taken to end our Bondage and Misery is to Shut Down the Voyage to any further National Elections under the 1999 Constitution which merely renews our Bondage.

ACCORDINGLY, Guided by the Five-Point Proposition of the NINAS CFM of December 16, 2020, we must now brace up and prevail on the Political Parties to halt their Preparations for the 2023 Round of National Elections so that the Transitioning Process can Commence instead of wobbling on to another Round of National Elections in 2023 under the 1999 Constitution as Nigeria could snap without further warning having shown all the vital signs of a failed State.

CALL TO ACTION

To Current Political Officeholders in Nigeria, NINAS says that our Campaign is not to get you out of office nor are we anarchists. That is the reason for the Transitioning Process Contained in our Five-Point Proposition under which current Governance Structures will remain in place (on an adjusted basis) for the Period of the Transitioning just as Apartheid-Era South Africa had to do in 1990 to ease itself out of the Quagmire of Apartheid Constitution. We cannot continue to play the role of the Judas Goat, luring our People to deeper Damnation, Impoverishment, and Slaughter every four years. We could be Statesmen for once even in our enlightened self-interest as the kind of societal collapse staring Nigeria in the face right now will not spare anyone.

To the Media, NINAS says, Nigeria is in Distress and the People are dying in large numbers. The Task of Taking this Redemption Message to the Masses of our People, falls squarely on you, just as was the case during the fight for Independence from British Colonial Rule.

To the Religious Leaders in Nigeria, NINAS says: on which side are you in this contestation between Light and Darkness? Where are the Bishop Desmond Tutus in this Land? Ditto for the Lawyers in Nigeria, where do you stand in this Debate that is costing lives and blood?

To the Peoples and Masses of Nigeria, NINAS says: the Prison Gate is open. Let us get up and walk swiftly past it to our Freedom. All we need to do is to firmly tell the Political Parties and Merchants that we shall not go with them to renew our Enslavement yet again in 2023. That choice is one between life and death as failure to stop the vicious cycle only leaves us open to the invasion of those who are on a Mission to Conquer us and who are being enabled by the 1999 Constitution they imposed on us.

To the Young People who enacted the EndSARS Revolution, NINAS says: the Redemption of your Future that is mortgaged by a Country that feeds on its young is in the Five-Point Proposition of the NINAS Constitutional Force Majeure. Join the Task of halting the Voyage to the next renewal of your bondage in 2023. When they ask you to form or join Political Parties to take over power, ask them: “Under Which Constitution?”

Thank you for your attention.
Long Live the Indigenous Peoples of Nigeria.
Issued this 19th Day of December 2021.

By the:
NINAS BOARD OF CONVENERS