​S’West Leaders Battle Jonathan Over Unfair Representation . 

Guardian. Lagos. Nigeria. 7.10.12
Restate Call For National Conference

​

THE appointment and reappointment of service chiefs without any representation from the Southwest geo-political has drawn the ire of leaders of the zone, who allege a trend of under-representation and marginalisation in federal appointments and capital projects.
Former Secretary of the federation, Chief Olu Falae, is joining other members of the Yoruba Unity Forum at a meeting with the president this week, to table the Southwest complaints.
Apart from Falae, others who spoke to The Guardian, expressed dismay at what they described as an insult to the people of Southwest. They berated the continuous inadequate representation of the zone in federal appointments. The situation became apparent when the current House of Representatives brazenly scuttled the candidacy of Hon. Mulikat Akande-Adeola, who was chosen by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be Speaker, a position that was zoned to the Southwest in the party’s sharing formula for political offices. Even though Akande-Adeola was later made Leader of the House, that action was seen to be an affront on the entire Southwest.
Those, who commented on the issue, include the leader and founder of the Oodua Peoples Congress, Dr. Frederick Fasehun, Chairman of the Afenifere Renewal Group, Mr. Wale Oshun, and former Afenifere spokesperson, Mr. Yinka Odumakin.
Last week the Presidency announced changes in the leadership of the Military, appointing former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim, as the new Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).
The choice of Ibrahim, a member of Course 17 of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), is supposed to be of Yoruba extraction from Kwara State, but that may not have calmed frayed nerves in the Southwest. In fact, it may have instigated fresh calls for convocation of a national conference. By political arrangement in the country, Kwara is designated North-central.
The President also announced new Service Chiefs for the Navy and the Air Force, appointing Rear Admiral Dele Ezeoba (Delta State, Southsouth), as the new Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) and Air Vice Marshal Alex Sabundu Badeh, Adamawa (Northeast) as the new Chief of Air Staff (CAS).
Jonathan re-appointed Lt.-Gen. Onyeabo Azubuike Ihejirika (Abia, Southeast) to his former position as Chief of Army Staff (COAS).
Fasehun, who had in the past bemoaned the alleged under-representation of the zone, likened the situation to insult on the people of the Southwest. He stressed that while the zone was prepared to give the president more time to correct the anomaly, the people of the zone would “complain and no one should be left in doubt of the nature of our complaints.”
But while Oshun inferred that the Constitution, in the spirit of quota system, guarantees fair representation of all the federating units in the country, Falae stressed that the Constitution referred to quantity and not necessarily quality of appointment.
Even as section 14(1) and (3) of the 1999 Constitution provides 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”, Southwest leaders say the zone is under-represented both in quantity and quality of appointments.
Odumakin, however, alleged that what the presidency appears to be doing amounts to “ethnic cleansing against the Yoruba in the Nigerian establishment.”
Why this may be so, was alluded to by Falae, when he alleged that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) might be taking its pound of flesh on the zone for “massively voting it out of power in the Southwest in the last election.” But Falae also pointed to disunity among the zone’s leadership, supposedly being exploited by “those in Abuja,” as one of the reasons why the zone is purportedly marginalized.
Meanwhile, the leaders appear resolute in their demand for the convocation of a national conference, saying this will pave the way to thrash, once and for all, gray areas in the constitution and reduce conflict to the barest minimum in the polity.
They dismissed the National Assembly’s attempt at constitution amendment. Falae remarked: “Members of the National Assembly were not given constituent powers at the time of their elections, how can they now smuggle constituent powers into their mandates after the election?”