The
God of creation has directed our noble course to build a nation where peace and
justice shall reign in return to the national prayers made by the founding
fathers of this nation close to sixty years now, by the entrance of the jinx
breaker, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu into the senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
To the hopeless,the helpless, homeless, voiceless, to the intimidated, violated
and marginalised, better days are here again. To those who seek unity, peace
and progress in Abia North,Abia State, Igbo Nation and the Nigerian
Nation-State your God has risen.
Hopes of our people have been rekindled,
Faith have been strengthened,forgiveness freely given, unity reinvigorated and
the spirit of nationalism reawakened from slumber, atmosphere all over Nigeria
charged with love for each other across tribes, similar to the feeling that
flow whenever our national football team the Super Eagles defeat a giant
football nation in a world cup tournament, these were the realities the
resonated the moment INEC called on Kalu to receive his certificate of Return,
it clearly depicted beyond being reasonably contended that Orji Kalu is indeed
a symbol of national unity.
Let me also most respectfully appeal to
the PDP candidate who was squarely defeated in that election to accept the
olive branch which Kalu has always offered his opponents in anything in life,
the way the APGA candidate in that keenly contested election has done, even as
the PDP candidate for the House of Representative in the constituency of the
defeated PDP Senatorial candidate has affirmed the credibility of that national
assembly election, litigating on this subject matter shall amount to nothing as
there is nothing to be litigated upon, ex nihilo nihil fit, out of nothing
comes nothing. It is better we all join our heads together and pursue our
common course as a people than to put up any conduct that may cause
distractions for Kalu whom God put in our mist for the liberation of the entire
Igbo nation.
To the distinguished incoming 9th
Assembly of the Federal Republic on Nigeria, I most respectfully urge them to
see the unity and love amongst the people of Nigeria as sacrosanct and
paramount by ensuring that the principal positions are most equitably and
evenly distributed to all geo-political zones for the sake of equity and good
conscience and in conformity with the relevant laws, worthy of serious
consideration is the office of the President of the Senate of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria , off course, I am duly aware of Rule 3 Order (2) of the
Extant Senate Standing Orders which states as follows; "Nomination of senators
to serve as Presiding Officers and appointments of Principal Officers and other
Officers of the Senate or on any Parliamentary delegations shall be in
accordance with the ranking of Senators. In determining ranking, the following
Oder shall apply- (i) Senators retiring based on number of times re-elected;
(ii) Senators who had been members of the House of Representatives; and (iii)
Senators elected as Senators for the first time." In as much as the
validity of this rule is not being contended, we should also have in mind, the
position of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As
Amended) upon which the supremacy of all laws in Nigeria are vested by the
operation of Section 1(3) of the same Constitution.
Under Section 60 of the 1999 Constitution
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended) it is expressly provided “Subject
to the provisions of this Constitution, the Senate or the House of
Representatives shall have power to regulate its own procedure, including the
procedure for summoning and recess of the House” and the full understanding of
the position which the framers of this law in their wisdom seek to further
advance is in the defect which was already cured under Chapter 2 of the 1999
Constitution of the FRN(As Amended) captioned the Fundamental Objectives
and Directive Principles of State Policy, precisely under Section 14(3) “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”.
Therefore, flowing from the above, we
make a passionate appeal to the consciences of the Senators-elect under the APC
to zone the Senate president to the South East for the sake of equity and in
line with the spirit of federal character recognised in our Constitution,
it is constitutional,lawful, legitimate and in accordance with the dictates of
the common conscience of Nigerian people whereas not doing so shall seem to be
at variance with our national consciousness and laws at the same time repugnant
to equity and fairness.
To those of the APC senators elected
from the Southeast who may be looking at themselves as qualified going by the
pre requisites, please let the overriding interests of Ndi-Igbo be considered
over your personal interests by putting forward the person with wider reach and
clout who shall be capable of utilising the paraphernalia of that office
to the best benefit of Ndi-Igbo and Nigeria, whether such a person is most
qualified among you or not but once he is qualified on general grounds, there
are precedents where the Senate president emerged not strictly on the premise
of the most ranking.
It is our expectation that the 9th
Assembly shall do justice to the Igbo nation to build a nation where peace and
justice shall reign as we have been desirous, which we prayed in our national
anthem. Let us remember that justice is an expression of our mutual recognition
of each other's basic dignity, and an acknowledgement that if we are to live
together in an interdependent community we must treat each other as equals. According
to Plato, Individually "justice is a 'human virtue' that makes a man
self consistent and good: Socially, justice is a social consciousness
that makes a society internally harmonious and good." And in the words of
Thomas Aquinas, Justice is the firm and constant will to give to everyone that
which is due.
Noble Agbaeze writes from Abuja.
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