TRANSCRIPT of NINAS Special Broadcast (March 2023): Nigeria in Distress - The NINAS Transitioning Template
The Editor, 23 March 2023
Source: The Video Broadcast titled, “Nigeria in Distress: The NINAS Transitioning Template”
Link to this NINAS Video Broadcast:
TRANSCRIPT of this Video Broadcast by the NINAS Spokesman Mr Tony Nnadi on 22 March 2023
Yes. As the dust begins to settle from the botched 2023 elections, we are now on behalf of NINAS going to respond to the torrents of enquiries about the Transition we were talking about, because we recall that in the Constitutional Force Majeure proclamation of December 16, 2020 we had listed a Five-Point Demand that became a Five-Point Proposition, and then Five-Point Agenda. Demand because, at the initial time in the first 90-days Notice given to the Federal Government, the illicit Federal Government running the defunct Federation of Nigeria with the Unitary Constitution, the 90-days Notice was in the period we were expecting them to come to the Table of discussion. After the 90 days we gave another 30 days to the Governors and all the elected officials because they come from one State or the other, Senators, House members and all that, for consultation: What do we do? Our Union is in distress can we go to a meeting and leave the journey to election alone? Of course they didn't come they went to Asaba to run their mouth about what they were “going” to do. Then we extended to the Nationalities, to the peoples of Nigeria 120 days, and the international stakeholders that ran all the way to August 17, 2021.
And so what began as a DEMAND on the Union became a PROPOSITION before all, and then an AGENDA. Meaning that whether they come or they don't come the Owners of their Sovereignty will assert their Sovereignty. The Owners of their Sovereignty will take their portion out of the failed Union and rework their relationships among themselves. There's no quarrel between the East and the West or between the Middle Belt and the South: we are together in that boat. There's only one adversary – the ones coming from Mauritania and Senegal and everywhere in the Sahel to kill people here in the attempt to take their [the indigenous peoples’] land with their [the invaders] local sponsors: El Rufai and all of the others who are receiving them.
And so, the questions that have been coming to us: How exactly do we go to that Transition now? And so we take our bearings from what we placed on the Table for those who were talking about entering government because they've now landed in the ditch we warned them about. We will go back to what we placed before the country since December of 2020. The Five-Point Proposition that will define that Transition. How exactly do we get to it? How exactly do we manage it to arrive at the objective, at the goal of reworking what is wrong with the Union?
I'll take it straight from how we first put it. We said:
Number one, a formal announcement acknowledging the constitutional grievances and Sovereignty [Union] Dispute now declared by the peoples of the South and Middle Belt of Nigeria. Acknowledgment of the constitutional grievances that have now become a Dispute formerly declared.
Number two, a formal commitment to the wholesale Decommissioning and jettisoning of the 1999 Constitution as the basis of the Federation of Nigeria. As was done by the government of Apartheid era South Africa in 1990, to commence the process by which the Apartheid Constitution of the then South Africa was eased out. Simply put, a commitment to Decommissioning the 1999 Constitution, a Unitary Constitution.
Number three, a formal announcement suspending further general elections under the disputed 1999 Constitution, since winners of such elections will swear to and govern by that Constitution. That’s self-explanatory. To put a time frame for when these things that have been outstanding since 1967 will be done, because that was what we went to discuss in Aburi – How do we relate in our Union? Or has the union collapsed?
Therefore summary of Number three: A formal announcement suspending further national elections so that we can go and do the business of reworking the basis of our Union.
Number four, and that's where we've arrived now because everybody can see that the Constitution is gone; everybody acknowledges, everybody now agrees with us that that Constitution has to be thrown into the dustbin. And those who were thinking that they should get to elections first before we go to that discussion: Election has come and gone. So can we now proceed with the business?
So Number four is what is this Transitioning that NINAS is talking about? And how will it be initiated? We said a formal initiation of a time-bound Transitioning Process to Midwife the emergence of fresh constitutional protocols by a Two-Stage Process in which constituent Regional Blocs will at the first stage distil and ratify their various Constitutions by Referendums and Plebiscites; and in the second stage negotiate the terms of federating afresh as may be dictated by the outcomes of the Referendums and Plebiscites. A time-bound Transitioning that is, we have suspended, ie we have agreed that election is not the way to go. We are now saying we will in this period, we can say it is three months because all the work has been done since NADECO became PRONACO, and all of what we did to become MNN and NINAS, and going to court in 2007, going to the international arena, getting the UN instruments, and all the work has been done. The draft Constitutions are in place. The Charters of Relationships in the multi-ethnic Regional Blocs where for instance in the Lower Niger you have the Ijaw, the Urhobo, the Anang, the Efik, the Igbo, the Itsekiri, you know everybody on his father's plot holding on to their Sovereignty to discuss with their neighbours and document how they can relate, how they can federate if the rest of Nigeria, if we agree to continue in any form of Union, like Germany and France and Portugal doing European Union. Those will be our own dictation as agreed amongst us. It's not anybody else's business and so it is in saying that, that time-bound Transitioning Process has to be introduced, to be initiated now in place of the election that has gone bad. We're no longer talking about suspending we're no longer talking about let's not go to election, we have gone to the election. It has collapsed and we can see that it is because of the Constitution that the election collapsed. And so the business to be done now, no other business will be tolerated, no other business will be tolerated including patching up things to see whether we can get at better election. For what purpose? Under what Constitution? To govern who? Which space?
Number five, a formal invitation to the people of South and Middle Belt of Nigeria to work out and emplace a Transitional Authority which shall specify the Modalities for Transitioning Process including Composition and Mandate of the Transitional Authority as well as the time frame for Transitioning and other ancillary matters.
In Brackets: We had said having concluded consultations with key segments of society, these propositions now constitute the Five-Point Agenda of the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination, NINAS, and will be pursued most vigorously until realised. This was in December 2020. We were telling everybody that it has come to where we've concluded all the waiting and consultation with other people. The Nationalities are now to go and do the business by themselves whether government comes or not. Let nobody think that what NINAS is saying must wait for when government repents and comes. The Nationalities own their Sovereignty – inalienable; they own their rights of Self-Determination – inalienable. The fact is that they have worked out all the processes among themselves. And those who are pretending to be government in Abuja and the state capitals are refusing to come to deal with it, in confiscation of our Sovereignty – that's what they are doing. They are defying us. They are defying all of us: those of them in Government House pretending they are now the owners and custodians of our Sovereignty, the National Assembly inclusive. They are all defying the Sovereign constituent components of Nigeria, the peoples whose Sovereignties have been Consolidated into the Nigeria that is now disputed. Those who were elected, who were sent to deputize to represent them and now are confiscating their Sovereignty and staying in the distant land to say we now own all of you: That's what everybody in Abuja is doing to the people they claim to represent, whether they are President or they’re Senator or House member or Minister.
And so, the Transition we are talking about highlights first order of business: 1999 Constitution for wholesale Decommissioning. When? No further election. We've had the last election we will tolerate in 2019. This one [2023] has collapsed. It's not even a matter of whether anybody accepts it or not. This one has collapsed and nobody can introduce anything that relates to election as long as this Constitution has not been laid to rest. And so, the earlier the better: Let us go now, we are not going to accept the outcome of all of what happened on the 25th of February and the one that will follow will just be a matter of not of any interest to us. It's not going to be basis of assumption of governmental power and authority.
Let those who are being awarded certificates here and there listen to it carefully: What happened on the 25th of February even after the court proceedings on the subject matter, will not become basis of Assumption of governmental Authority and Power in this space called Nigeria. The Owners of the land are the ones saying so. The Owners of the Sovereignties that have been confiscated are the ones saying so! Those who think they have become the owners of all of us and who are banding up swearing to defend and uphold the Constitution that we reject, the Constitution that inserted our signature against us, without reference to us. We better listen when we can listen otherwise the Owners of the Sovereignty are going to take back their Sovereignty by whatever mechanism they devise, with no apology to anybody, with no requirements for consensus or agreement with anybody. They only need to be in their ancestral space. They only need to be distinct Nationalities. Ijaw on Ijaw land, Ogoni on Ogoni land, Yoruba on Yoruba land. Their Sovereignty is inalienable – it belongs to them: They are the ones who have to decide the terms of unionizing with anybody else, and it is by Referendum not by a few politicians going to decide it over their heads. It Is by Referendum that they will commit to being in Union. That's the meaning of the Two-Stage Process. They will work out their own Charters in their spaces.
Look at this map [Nnadi points to the NINAS Alliance map] again, you will see that apart from the Sharia Belt that has seceded from the Union there is a delineation in the balance of showing the Yoruba Bloc, showing the Lower Niger to the eastern half of Southern Nigeria, and showing the Middle Belt. All the Nationalities here have been discussing this matter across the last 24 years. They've worked out their Constitutions, and there are Charters of Relationships. They are only processing them for ratification, adoption or ratification – that’s where we are now. So, the people doing the election hoping to come and govern Nigeria, that Nigeria represented by this map, defined by that Constitution we are rejecting. Where is that booklet of evil? [Nnadi looks around for it] It will not happen. It will not happen!
Those who have not: Whether you're in government or wherever you're coming from or you're in political party or you are contesting election or winning election or hoping to be part of a Transition that will go to interim government that will go to do another business. Obasanjo should listen carefully. That thing that Obasanjo went to say in Port Harcourt about the need to go to work out the Constitution that the people can consider their own. [Obasanjo video clip shown here when Obasanjo spoke on 26 January 2023 at The International Conference On ‘Deepening Democratic Culture and Institutions for Sustainable Development and Security in Nigeria’ in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State.]
Obasanjo: I do not by any means assume that this will be easy. We have made many false starts in the past. We have steadily become impatient to democracy, the principles and practice, as we demand instant results. But past failure should not discourage us from embracing new styles or perspectives that will guarantee our survival. Without reinventing the wheel therefore, let me say it very clearly that the principles I have been talking about include but certainly not limited to building and compacting a truly people-led and people-driven Constitution that they will own and defend against political predators of any form. This is the basic foundation that when you involve the people in the process, their understanding, make their input, see the Document as their own, not only women, and not only will they defend it but it will also guide their political actions, assignments and realignments.
If this Constitution, if the Constitution of Nigeria was made by Nigerian people will Buhari be defying the Constitution the way we have seen? Defying the Supreme Court the way we have seen? It won't last 24 hours because the people will rise up in defense of their Constitution. That was what Obasanjo went to describe in Port Harcourt. Unfortunately he doesn't seem to believe: We've dealt with him at length, he does not believe that Sovereignty belongs to the people. He thinks it belongs to the Class of ’66 that they will decide what will happen to everybody. Why is he now coming to bring Peter Obi to do what he did not do for eight years in Government House? We engaged him and he was the toughest opposition, he was the most adamant opposition to solving this problem when he was President! So what does he want Peter Obi to do now that he is rallying everybody to say: “oh good leadership”? What will Peter Obi do with a Constitution that ties his legs and hands?
And so, let nobody deceive himself. The Class of ‘66 that imposed this Calamity on all of us must now leave the stage. They must now leave the stage: they've done enough Havoc. They imposed this Constitution in 1979 having killed 3.5 million people between ‘67 and 1970. In 1999 they found a way to revive it. Ibrahim Babangida going to bring Obasanjo from prison, after Abdulsalami Abubakar – all of them! We have tolerated it beyond any measure. It cannot be stretched any further. Let the Class of ‘66 hear very clearly that they've done enough Havoc. There's no part of the solution of this problem that will come from them. But a good thing is that Obasanjo their Prefect, the Head Slave of the South has gone to confess that the people, and the people alone will have to do their Constitution, which they will then be ready to defend against all predators. Those were his words.
Who are these “we the people” is it any group of people gathered in Oshodi market or in Ochanja market in Onitsha? No it is Ijaw as Ijaw on Ijaw land, Yoruba as Yoruba on Yoruba land just like Scottish people as Scots in Scotland, like Catalans in Catalonia.
So, these are “we the people” for the illiterate lawyers who have been going about talking about writing another Constitution to go and change the one that was there. The first order of business is to Define who “we the people” are that are going to federate. The Yoruba must be on the Table as Yoruba not somebody from nowhere going to write Constitution to say okay Yoruba is here now. It must be Yoruba in exercise of their Sovereignty sitting with Ijaw in exercise of Ijaw Sovereignty to decide whether they want to be in Union, and it has to be by Referendum. We are explaining now what the contents of this Transition is because of the number of enquiries. The Secretariat is overwhelmed almost. Because we have answers, otherwise we will have been overwhelmed. We had answers that have been there for three years before people plunged into election. The election has come to grief now. Where do they go from here? Let us now Dismount from our high horses and go to Transition. If we're not going to that Transition I tell you, there is no Nigeria for anybody to govern going forward, under that Constitution. And if anybody wants to do it by Brigandage: I hear some people want to plot they say a military coup, and all kinds of interim arrangements that will go to rework election to come again. All of those will not work, all of those will be prevented from taking root no matter how they come. If Buhari after eight years with all the guns he amassed, with all the people he brought from everywhere with guns to come and kill off the Owners of the land, if after eight years he has not delivered the land, let those who have been invited to continue the task like the Gowonian task of keeping Nigeria by force. When Gowon was commissioning that task: “To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done” he did not tell them the Quantum of blood that is required to feed that monster every day. Eastern Nigeria contributed 3.5 million lives. The blood of 3.5 million people from Eastern Nigeria was required to keep that monster.
From that time to this date that monster has had to feed on the blood of people in turn. Ijaw had contributed their own blood enough. Ogoni had contributed their own blood enough. Yoruba is contributing blood now. The Middle Belt, the Tiv, everybody, the Langtang they are contributing blood to keep that monster that Gowon said has to be kept One, and candidate Peter Obi says it is One-Nigeria he's fighting for. It’s such a great pity that such should be said at all. But we're telling all that that monster must now be put to death. That monster that feeds on the blood of the Constituents. That monster of Unitary Nigeria. Our quarrel is not with Nigeria the Federation, our quarrel is with Nigeria the Unitary state that is defined by that Constitution. Let the Distinction be made clear. So those who are saying it must be the unity of Nigeria, everything starts with the unity of Nigeria: Our concern is for the Nigerians that are trapped here. The Transition we must embark upon now is one that acknowledges the sanctity of life for all, which Sharia forbids. Sharia requires the adherents to kill the infidel.
The Nigeria we are discussing now must acknowledge the equality of men which feudalism forbids. Feudalism believes that some are born to rule others, and so those two preliminary objections must be taken along before we go to the Two-Stage Process. I will not be in any Union with anybody who owes it a duty of Faith to kill me. I will not be in any Union with anybody who does not understand that knowledge that all men are born equal. When we settle those two, we will now come to the question of equity. We are not even to talk about whose turn it is to preside over the Madness. We're talking about constitutional and structural inequities imposed by a Constitution they imposed, and so the Transition we're talking about is very clearly spelled out.
The booklet you see here [Nnadi holds up a booklet titled, “Ending The Fraud of 1999 To Correct The Mischief of 1914”] had been ready since after we declared the Force Majeure. It has all: it's like a handbook for how to undertake the Union Reconfiguration and Reconstruction we're talking about. By the time we make out the call for those who now want to work with the NINAS Template for doing what has to be done, this booklet shall be available. It will soon get on Amazon. Everything you need to know about what the problem is and how it is being solved step-by-step, you'll find here. The Secretariat will make it available for those who make enquiries, but eventually it will be on Amazon for everybody to pick up and work for their own Space. Yoruba Sovereignty must be recovered by Yoruba as basis of doing any business with anybody else. Ijaw Sovereignty must be recovered along with their land and their assets that have been confiscated via that Constitution and their economic assets awarded as concessions to the children of, and descendants of Usman Dan Fodio. I think we can hold it here. Thank you
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