Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) has sued
the federal government over alleged lopsided board appointments at the Nigeria
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The senior
lawyer filed a suit at the federal high court in Abuja to challenge the
non-inclusion of the south-east zone in appointments to the board of the NNPC.
He said the
appointments contravened “the provisions of section 14 of the constitution and
also the federal character commission act and the provisions of sections 42 of
the constitution of Nigeria that prohibits discrimination of any of Nigeria’s
ethnic groups such as, in this case, the south-east”.
In a
statement issued on Monday, Agbakoba said the reason for the action was that
the federal government had always discriminated against Nigerians indigenous to
the states in the south-east zone in appointments to the board of the NNPC.
“One of the
instances of discrimination of that on 5 July 2016, the federal government of
Nigeria appointed the following persons as members of the board of the 2nd
respondent (NNPC): Dr Tajuddeen Umar (north-east), Dr
Maikanti Baru (north-east), Mr Abba
Kyari (north-east); Mr Mahmoud Isa-Dutse (north-central); Mallam
Mohammed Lawal; Mallam Yusuf Lawal; Dr
Emmanuel IbeKachikwu (south-south); Dr
Thomas MA John (south-south), and Dr Pius O Akinyelure (south-west),” he said
in the suit.
“None of
these persons appointed to fill the nine positions are from the states
comprising the south-east geopolitical zone, while more than one person were
appointed from some of the geopolitical zones.
“The federal government, by the lopsided
appointment accords numerical advantage to states in other geopolitical zones,
to the detriment of the applicant’s south-east geopolitical zone that is
totally excluded from the board of the 2nd respondent.”
Agbakoba
asked the court to declare “the lopsided appointments of board members of the
south-east zone, unconstitutional, null and void”.
No date has
been fixed to hear the suit.
Source: thecable.ng
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