All Senate Appointments Must Comply With The Constitution – Femi Falana

Popular Nigerian lawyer, Femi Falana has come out to urge Ahmad Lawan to ensure all appointments confirmed by the Senate are in consonance with the constitution of Nigeria.

He recently revealed this in a letter written to the Senate President and made available to press, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to him, the nomination of the 16-man member of the governing council of the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, is nothing but lopsided, and that is a bad sign.

He added that it is a shame to see how the infringement of human rights of the Nigerian people have been on the rise since the Governing Council of the National Human Rights Commission was dissolved years ago.

His words, “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.”

“The South East and South South Zones have 4 representatives each while the South West and North Central Zones have 2 representatives each. Curiously, the North East Zone has no representative on the List. Yet, the rate of human rights abuses in the North East Region is higher than any other region in the country because of the ongoing counter insurgency operations.”

“Dear Dr Ahmad Lawan,

REQUEST TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE WITH SECTION 14(3) OF THE CONSTITUTION AND SECTION 4 OF THE FEDERAL CHARACTER COMMISSION ACT ON THE APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNING COUNCIL (ESTABLISHMENT ETC) OF THE NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION.”

The Governing Council of the National Human Rights Commission was dissolved by President Muhammadu Buhari in November 2015. Since then the infringement of human rights of the Nigerian people has been on the ascendancy. Hence, we have consistently campaigned for the reconstitution of the said Governing Council.”

The South East and South South Zones have 4 representatives each while the South West and North Central Zones have 2 representatives each. Curiously, the North East Zone has no representative on the List. Yet, the rate of human rights abuses in the North East Region is higher than any other region in the country because of the ongoing counter insurgency operations.”

“You will agree with us that the aforementioned nominations are not in consonance with Section 14 (3) of the Constitution which stipulates that “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.”