Group threatens to sue FG over ‘exclusion’ of south-east from NNPC board

The Human Rights Law Service (HURILAWS) has threatened to sue the federal government in seven days if it does not implement the federal character principle in the National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in seven days.

In a letter dated September 9 and addressed to Shettima Abba, acting chairman of federal character commission, Collins Okeke, a senior legal officer of HURILAWS, noted that the board of directors of NNPC did not have a representative from the south-east.

He said this was a violation of the federal character principle enshrined in section 14(3) of the constitution to ensure proportional sharing of all bureaucratic, economic, media and political posts at all levels of government in the country.

“We write to draw your attention to appointments made by the federal government into the board of directors of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation as follows; Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu (south-south), Maikanti Baru (north-east), Abba Kyari (north-east), Mahmoud Isa-Dutse (north-central), Pius Akinyelure (south-west), Tajuddeen Umar (north-east), Thomas M.A John (south-south), Mohammed Lawal and Yusuf Lawal,” the letter read.

“You can see that three members of the Board are from the north-east and the south-east has no representation. This is a clear violation of the Federal character principle enshrined in Section 14(3) of the constitution to ensure proportional sharing of all bureaucratic, economic, media and political posts at all levels of government in Nigeria.

“By denying the south-east representation in the board of an important national corporation like the NNPC, the federal government has discriminated against the south-east by subjecting citizens from the south-east to disabilities or restrictions which other regions of Nigeria are not subject.

“As you well know, the function of the federal character commission in Section 4 (1)(b) of the federal character commission Act CAP F7 LFN 2004 is to monitor, promote and enforce compliance with the federal character principle by ensuring that each region of Nigeria is fairly represented at all levels of government.

“We request that the commission compels the federal government to comply with the constitution in appointment of the board of directors of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, failing which after seven days we shall initiate legal proceedings.”