Middle Belt, Southern Leaders give FG 5-Point Demand for Continued Stay in Nigeria
- It appears leaders of the middle belt and the southern part of Nigeria want to go their separate ways
- The forum on Wednesday, March 17, expressed serious concerns that their members are at the receiving end of herdsmen attacks
- In light of this, the leaders presented a list of demands so that they don't free their people from Nigeria
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Southern Nigeria and middle belt leaders under the aegis of Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS) have presented a list of demands for their continued stay in the country.
NINAS is of the opinion that members are at the receiving end of a vicious ethnic cleansing by the Fulani herdsmen.
The Guardian reports that the forum made this known on Wednesday, March 17, at a world press conference at New Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo state.
Source: Getty Images
The 5-point demand was presented by Prof. Banji Akintoye, NINAS chairman, along with other leaders of the group made of indigenous nations and people of Southern and Middle-Belt.
They complained of injustice in Nigeria as well as contradictions in the polity and 1999 constitution.
According to the group, they had set processes to formally free their people from what they described as the “contraption called Nigeria.”
NINAS listed the following as their demands:
1. The federal government should formally announce and acknowledge the “constitutional grievances and sovereignty dispute” declared by the peoples of the south and Middle-Belt.
2. A formal commitment by the government to wholesale decommissioning and jettisoning of the 1999 Constitution.
3. An announcement suspending further general elections under the disputed 1999 Constitution.
4. A formal invitation to South and Middle-Belt people to work out a transitional authority, which shall specify the modalities for the transitioning process.
5. A formal initiation of a time-bound transitioning process to midwife the emergence of fresh constitutional protocols by a two-stage process.
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that NINAS alleged that a category of the country's politicians is trying to bring about national disintegration through violent means for their selfish interests.
NINAS said this set of politicians include some of those who are eyeing the presidential seat in the 2023 elections.
The group's chairman and secretary in a joint statement made it clear that ethnic nationalities both in the middle belt and in the southern part of Nigeria are making moves to attain their sovereignty.
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Oluwatobi Bolashodun is a Legit.ng journalist with six years of working experience in the media industry. She graduated from Babcock University in 2012 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communication. Oluwatobi is a Current Affairs Editor, mostly writing on political, educational, and business topics. She uses her team spirit to encourage others to work hard.
Source: Legit.ng
