Despite the recent report of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Review, which turned down 61 requests for additional states in the country, citing the stringent constitutional requirements for such an exercise, Nigerians have continued to clamour for more states, writes GEORGE OJI.
When the Senate Committee on Constitutional Review presented its report to the upper legislative chamber last month, one of the shocking recommendations contained in that report was the rejection of the requests for additional states in the country.
Chairman of the committee and the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, said the decision of his committee was predicated on the fact that none of the 61 requests for new states complied with the provision of section 8(1) of the 1999 constitution.
Section 8(1) states that "An act of the National Assembly for the purpose of creating a new state shall only be passed if (a) a request, supported by at least two-thirds majority of members (representing the area demanding the creation of new state) in each of the following, (i) the Senate and House of Representatives, (ii) the House of Assembly in respect of the area, is received by the National Assembly, (b) a proposal for the creation of the state is thereafter approved in a referendum by at least twothird majority of the people of the area where the demand for creation of the state originated, (c) the result of the referendum is then approved by a simple majority of all the states of the federation supported by a simple majority of members of the Houses of Assembly, and (d) the proposal is approved by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of members of each House of the National Assembly."
A breakdown of the report of the constitution review committee showed that out of the 61 requests for additional states received, 17 came from the South-South, nine from the South-East, while South-West accounted for 15.
This was as the North East sought for three new states; North Central, 13 and North-West, six. Of all these, the committee in its report, said: "In all, none of the requests for state creation at the close of receipt of memoranda satisfied the requirement of section 8(1) (a)(i-iii) to justify a recommendation for the next step in section 8(1)(b) namely: directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a referendum."
The conclusion no doubt, drew the rage of some Nigerians. It was not just the issue of state creation that attracted the ire of these Nigerians; there was also the issue of legislating role(s) for traditional rulers, which the Senate committee tactfully avoided.
At two separate media chats with Ekweremadu immediately after the presentation of the report, the issue of state creation particularly attracted serious arguments.
The question was: How come the committee did not consider it necessary to sound the alarm on time during any of the public hearings on the exercise when it noticed that the people were not following the constitutional requirements on state creation in their memoranda, so that they could retrace their steps and follow the right path? Ekweremadu's response was to say the least, as insensitive as it was insulting to the sensibilities of Nigerians.
"It is like going into the examination hall and after failing the examination you turn round and blamed the teacher that you failed the examination because the teacher failed to give you clues to the answers."
He added: "It is not for the teacher to do that and if for any reason you did not prepare well for the examination, the outcome will be obvious, you will fail. It was not in the place of the committee to tell them what to do.
They have their lawyers who ought to have known what to do, to have read the requirements. As they say, ignorance of the law is not an excuse." Logical as the argument by Ekweremadu may sound, at best, that argument may be legally right but politically and morally naïve and unconvincing.
The truth of the matter is that the issue of state creation is one that is so very dear to the hearts of many Nigerians that each time it is mentioned, the people do so with so much passion, particularly people of minority nationalities.
To underscore the importance of the issue very well, it is on record that most of the lawmakers rode on the back of state creation to win their elections to the National Assembly, because they assured the people that they would make the issue an utmost priority when they get there. It is against this background that political watchers believe that the lawmakers do not just have a political responsibility but moral burden to have done more than they did with the issue of state creation.
However, while some took the decision of the Senate with studied silence, some would not just let the matter die that way, as a week after the presentation of the report, the people of Enugu State, who had submitted request for the creation of Adada State out of the present Enugu State, petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan, questioning the basis for the conclusions reached by the Senate Constitution Review Committee. The people called on the Senate to make public, its memorandum for the creation of Adada State, to let the people be the judge over the matter.
Insisting that they followed the laid down procedure in their request, the people under the aegis of Enugu State Committee and Movement for the Actualisation of Adada State, followed the petition up with a protest visit to the National Assembly with their legal team to take on the Ekweremadu- led committee.
Led by Maj. Gen. Godwin Ugokwe (rtd), the delegation met with the Deputy Senate President and during a presentation challenged him (Ekweremadu) to make public the copy of the request that was filed for the creation of Adada State to prove if it did not met the constitutional provisions.
Ugokwe, who spoke on behalf of the delegation, said they were taken aback when they read the reasons by the review committee for the rejection of the 61 applications for new states because his committee was very conscious of the requirements of section 8 of the constitution and consequently took steps to ensure that it complied with them.
He said even though they had submitted their request earlier, his committee had to review their earlier request in line with the requirement that only serving lawmakers are to sign it.
He stated that copies of the reviewed request were submitted to both the Senate committee, the House of Representatives Constitution review Committee, the Senate President David Mark, the Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal and the Clerk of the National Assembly.
Ugokwe explained that it was following the reasons given by the committee for the mass disqualification of the requests that his committee decided to petition President Jonathan on the matter. He challenged Ekweremadu to make public the copy of the request filed by his committee to prove that Adada state creation request met the constitutional provisions.
"We are wondering why it was a blanket treatment because we submitted updated request, which was signed by the serving lawmakers from the area," Ugokwe said, adding that they "made sure that everybody who was supposed to sign, signed."
Responding, Ekmweremadu stated that the major snag in the actualisation of more states in the country at the moment is the difficulty posed by the constitution, which makes the process very cumbersome. He said unlike the military regime, the creation of additional states in a democracy is more tasking.
According to him, under the democratic dispensation, state creation is more of a process as compared to the military where it is just a step.
While explaining how his committee arrived at the decision to disqualify all the 61 applications for state creation, the Deputy Senate President however assured that they have not given up on state creation. He said: "What we are insisting on is that the steps for the process must be duly followed."
He explained that the fact that new states were not announced by his committee was not the committee's fault but because they did not meet the requirements provided for by section 8 of the constitution.
He stated that the unfortunate truth of the matter was that for a long time to come, the creation of new states is going to be very difficult because of the rigorous constitutional provisions required.
He said his committee decided to refer all the 61 requests it received on state creation to a 13-member panel of consultants made up of mainly professors of law and other experts from other fields of endeavour and that after a painstaking analysis of all the requests, the panel came up with the verdict that none of the applications met with the requirements provided for by Section 8 of the constitution for the creation of states.
Notwithstanding the position of the committee, Ekweremadu described the process for state creation as a continuum and assured the visitors that his committee was going to consider their requests.
"Any request that does not meet the requirements of section 8 of the constitution can be amended by the people and represented for consideration," he said. In a similar move, the people of Idoma, Benue State, under the umbrella of the Idoma National Forum (INF) took their protest for the none creation of Apa State to their kinsman, Senate President, Mark in his Apo mansion, residence in Abuja. The anger of the people no doubt is not in any way misplaced.
Mark is one of the many senators who owed his repeated reelection to the Senate on the promise that he would do everything to ensure the actualisation of Apa State.
During a reception for his re-election in 2011, Mark publicly reassured the people that "If there is going to be one additional state to be created, it would be Apa State," to which the people thunderously applauded. So, when the INF, led by Dr. Okopi Alex Momoh stormed the residence of the Senate President, the people did not mince words at their disappointment in the noncreation of Apa State.
They also expressed doubts at the reasons given by the Senate that none of the 61 requests met the conditions provided for by Section 8 of the constitution. Momoh, therefore enjoined the National Assembly to investigate and verify the claims for state creation in order to address the issue and feelings of most Nigerians.
Mark, however used the opportunity of the visit to assure Nigerians agitating for new states that all hopes are not lost yet as the issue is yet to be foreclosed by the National Assembly. He stated that even though the Senate Committee on Constitution Review in its report dismissed all the requests for new states for not meeting the constitutional requirements of the 1999 Constitution, particularly section 8, he pledged that there are still opportunities for the National Assembly to revisit the matter.
Mark disclosed that the major impediment to the creation of new states is Section 8 of the 1999 Constitution, which makes the exercise very cumbersome. He however assured that the process is being streamlined to make it less cumbersome.
His words: "I have never minced words about my position on the creation of additional states. It is not that we cannot live together with our brothers and sisters but I am a firm believer that state creation will bring more development and progress nearer to the people.
"You should continue with the agitation for state creation and work towards meeting the requirements. I am sure that when the conditions are met, states would be created. Milk may have been spilled but not fallen over. There is still a window and the National Assembly will hearken to the yearnings and aspirations of the citizenry."
Is there any hope for agitators for state creation? Are the requisite sectors of the 1999 Constitution, as amende, easy to fulfill for states to be created? What next for the agitators for creation of new states? There and many more functions beg for another.
Time will however fall whether or not any state(s) would be created but one thing is certain, many Federal Lawmakers may find it difficult to make a return to the National Assembly in 2015, based in the electoral promise made in 2011 that new states would be created.
National Mirror
All this new states talk must just stop once and for all cos that is really not what we need right now. It must never happen as at now.