Nigeria is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural republic held together by a Constitution which is regarded as the grund norm. The Constitution functions as the thermostat to measure and control the temperature of the polity, and once the Constitution is disregarded for any reason, the polity begins to heat up.

It is because of the multi-ethno-religio-cultural composition of Nigeria, that the Nigerian Constitution places much emphasis on Unity and Harmony of the country. These two being the only way the indissolubility and indivisibility of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as stipulated in section 2 of the Constitution as well as in the preamble to the Constitution can be guaranteed and sustained.

The preamble to the extant Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria provides as follows: “We the people of Federal Republic of Nigeria, having firmly and solemnly resolved to live in Unity and Harmony as one indissoluble and sovereign nation under God dedicated to the promotion of inter African solidarity, world peace, international co-operation and understanding; and to provide for a Constitution for purpose of promoting the good governance and welfare of all persons in our country on the principles of freedom, equality and justice, and for the purposes of consolidating the Unity of our people, do hereby make, enact and give to our selves the following constitution”

Unity and harmony are germane to the corporate existence of Nigeria as presently constituted, which is why in order to ensure that nothing scratches or injures the unity and harmony of this country, the Constitution puts in place fundamental objectives and directives principles of state policy which serves as mariner’s pole star in the governance of this country. One of such fundamental objectives that must direct the principles of state policy is the Federal Character principle established under section 14 sub-sections 3 and 4 and enshrined in various sections of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended) especially those sections dealing with appointment to public offices.

The said Section 14 subsection 3 provides that the Composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conducts 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 States or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or any of its agencies.

Subsection 4 of section 14 of the Constitution equally provides for the application of the principles of Federal Character with respect to government of States, FCT and Local Government by expressly mandating that the composition of Government of a State, a Local Government Council or any of the agencies of such Government or Council and the conduct of the affairs of such Government or Council shall be carried out as to recognize the diversity of the people within its area of authority and the need to promote a sense of belonging and loyalty among all the people of the Federation.

Professor Jadesola Akande in her book “An Introduction to 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria” following from the above constitutional provision of the principle of Federal character gave a straight forward definition of the term federal character to mean “the distinctive desire of the people of Nigeria to promote national unity, foster national loyalty and to give every citizen of Nigeria a sense of belonging to the nation notwithstanding the diversities of ethnic origin, culture, language or religion which it is their desire to nourish to the enrichment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”

For me, Federal character of Nigeria can be defined as a constitutionally guaranteed formula for distribution and sharing of all cadres of posts, positions and offices in the public services of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in such a manner as to give every States, ethnic and sectional groups comprised in the Federal Republic of Nigeria a sense of belonging thereby promoting national unity and harmony as well as fostering national loyalty.

Strict adherence to the principle of Federal Character in germane to our corporate existence as a nation, disregarding it is tantamount to attempting to murder our corporate existence which in essence is not only a subversion of the Constitution, the supreme law which the president swore to uphold, but is equally an act of treason.

An examination of sections 147, 171, 217, 218-219 of the Constitution will showcase the high premium the Constitution places on the strict adherence to the principle of federal character. Section 147 (2) gave the president the power to appoint Ministers, the subsection 3 of section 147 makes it mandatory for the president to conform with section 14(3) on the principle of federal character in making his appointments of ministers. In fact, the subsection mandates the president to appoint at least one Minister from each State of the Federation who shall be an indigene of such State, by this provision, the Constitution makes it mathematically mandatory that there must at least be 36 Ministers the President shall appoint and one must come from each State of the Federation.

Section 171 of the constitution empowers the President to appoint persons who will occupy the following positions. Such positions are: Secretary to the Government of Federation, Head of services of the Federation, Ambassadors, High Commissioners or other principal representatives of Nigeria abroad, Permanent Secretaries in any ministry or Heads of any Extra-Ministerial Department of the Government of the Federation howsoever designated; and any office of the Personal staffs of the President. Now subsection 5 of section 171 of the Constitution provides that in exercising his powers to appoint persons who will occupy the above positions, the President MUST have regard to the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity.

Section 217 of the Constitution established the Armed Forces of the Federation, it provides as follows: There shall be an armed forces for the Federation which shall consist of an Army, a Navy, an Air Force and such other branches of the armed forces of the Federation as may be established by an Act of the National Assembly. Subsection 3 of section 217 of the Constitution specifically mandates in the following words “The composition of the Officer corps and other ranks of the armed forces of the Federation MUST reflect the federal character of Nigeria.

Section 218(2) of the Constitution confers on the President the power to appoint the Chief of Defence Staff, the Chief of Army Staff, the Chief of Naval Staff, the Chief of Air Staff and the heads of other branches of the armed forces of the Federation as may be established by an Act of the National Assembly. However Sections 218 (4) (b), and sections 219 (1) (b) empowers the National Assembly to with respect to the power conferred on the President to appoint to the positions referred to in section 218 above to by an Act, establish a body which shall comprise such members as the National Assembly may determine and which shall have powers to ensure that the composition of the armed forces of the Federation shall reflect the federal character of Nigeria.

I have set out the above provisions to show that by the tenor of the very same constitution which President Buhari on 29th May 2015 swore to uphold, No president, President Buhari inclusive has the power to make appointments, including appointments to his personal staffs in total disregard to the principle of federal character of Nigeria. The reason is that there is a constitutional presumption that a President of Nigeria belongs to everybody as well as to nobody. So when President Buhari on his inauguration opined that “I belong to everybody, I belong to nobody” little did he know that he was merely restating an obvious constitutional truth. That is why he is referred to as The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The administration of the principle of federal character of Nigeria is of huge constitutional importance to the unity and harmony of Nigeria that the Constitution established a full Commission to supervise its implementation. The Constitution in its Third Schedule, part 1, Paragraph C established the Federal Character Commission; the commission itself reflects the federal character of Nigeria in its composition being made up of a Chairman and one person to represent each of the States of the Federation and the FCT all of whom shall be appointed by the President subject to senate confirmation.

The Commission is established to give effect to section 14(3) and (4) of the Constitution. Permit me to set out the details of its functions as provided for in sections 8 of the Third Schedule to the constitution.

Section 8-(1) In giving effect to the provision of Section 14(3) and (4) of this Constitution, the commission shall have powers to-
(a) work out an equitable formula to the approval of the National Assembly for the distribution of all cadres of post in the public service of the Federation and of the States, the armed forces of the federation, the Nigerian police force and other security agencies, government owned companies;
(b) Promote, monitor and enforce compliance with the principle of proportional sharing of all bureaucratic, economic, media and political posts at all levels of government;
(c) Take such legal measures, including the prosecution of the head or staff of any ministry of government body or agency who fails to comply with any federal character principle or formula prescribe or adopted by the commission; and
(d) Carry out such other functions as may be conferred on it by an Act of the National Assembly

(2) The posts mentioned in sub-paragraph (1)(a) and (1) of this paragraph shall include those of Permanent Secretaries, Directors-General in Extra Ministerial Departments and Parastatals, Directors in Ministries and Extra-Extra Ministerial Departments, Senior Military Officers, Senior Diplomatic posts and managerial cadres in the Federal and State parastatals, bodies, agencies and institutions

(3) Notwithstanding any provision in any other law, the commission shall ensure that every public company or corporation reflects the federal characters in the appointment of its directors and senior management staff.

The Constitution even gave the Federal Character Commission in section 8(1)(c) above the power to even prosecute in court of law any head or staff of any ministry of government body who fails to comply with the principle of federal character. This shows that the Constitution regards the principle of federal character as the fon et erigo, the sine qua non and the fulcrum if the unity, harmony and loyalty to Federal Republic will be guaranteed. So, anybody who is arguing that the President can appoint and choose all the men that would work with him from one ethnic group is not only ignorant of the law but does not value the unity and harmony of this country.

The question now is, has President Buhari fared well in observing these constitutional provisions on federal character principle in the appointments so far made by him? Can it be said that president Buhari has by his appointments so far valued the unity and harmony of this country? President Buhari has observed this principle of federal character more in breach than in compliance.

In fact, no president of Nigeria both under the military dispensation and since the inception of democratic governance has so much disregarded this principle of federal character in his appointments as President Buhari. Ninety-Nine point Nine percent of all the appointments made by Buhari especially in key sectors of the executive arm of government came from a section of the country in total disregard of this principle. The unity and harmony in this country is already hanging in the balance by virtue of the activities of the terrorist Boko haram. In the recent past there has been a renewed threat by some ethnic groups to secede. There is more of loyalty to the ethnic groups now than to the nation. The least any true nationalist or lover of Nigeria will expect from our President is to legitimize these secessionist demands by his manner of appointments.

These biased appointments have the tendency of disrupting national unity, dislodging loyalty to the nation and promoting mutual rancor and bitterness. President Buhari should know that the elections are over; He is no longer APC presidential candidate, neither is he Northern President. He is now the President and Constitutional Father of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The earlier he starts seeing himself as much and acting as such; the better. Nigeria is bigger than everybody, President Buhari inclusive.

Stanley Chukwu Esq (scchukwu@gmail.com)

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