The Northern Nigeria Minorities Group (NNMG) has cautioned people and curiosity teams towards ethnicising the appointment of Joash Amupitan as the brand new chairperson of the Unbiased Nationwide Electoral Fee (INEC).
Convener of the group, Jacob Edi, issued the warning in an announcement to PREMIUM TIMES, urging Nigerians to concentrate on competence and nationwide unity quite than ethnic affiliations.
President Bola Tinubu nominated Mr Amupitan, a professor, as the brand new INEC chair final Thursday. He replaces Mahmood Yakubu, who bowed out of the fee two days earlier.
NNMG argued that, traditionally, no northern minority had questioned appointments made by earlier leaders from the North, even when sure subregions dominated the place for over a decade.
“We’ve noticed, with dismay, the spate of commentaries and social media tirades credited to some self-styled northern voices taking umbrage at President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s nomination of Professor Amupitan, a distinguished scholar, refined authorized thoughts, and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, as one more act of alleged ethnic desire.
“Nothing might be farther from the reality. Whereas not admitting any wrongdoing on the a part of the President, we want to word that that is the primary time in 65 years, for the reason that institution of a statutory electoral fee in 1959, {that a} northern minority has been appointed to steer it,” it stated.
Learn the complete assertion under:
The Northern Nigeria Minorities Group (NNMG) views with consternation the continuing makes an attempt by sure people and curiosity teams to ethnicise the nomination of Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, SAN, because the Chairman of the Unbiased Nationwide Electoral Fee (INEC).
For the avoidance of doubt, Professor Amupitan is an Okun man from Kogi State, one of many minority ethnic nationalities in Northern Nigeria. There are 19 states within the North, every richly numerous and distinctive, none superior to the opposite by tribe, tongue, or religion.
We’ve noticed, with dismay, the spate of commentaries and social media tirades credited to some self-styled northern voices taking umbrage at President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s nomination of Professor Amupitan, a distinguished scholar, refined authorized thoughts, and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, as one more act of alleged ethnic desire.
Nothing might be farther from the reality. Whereas not admitting any wrongdoing on the a part of the President, we want to word that that is the primary time in 65 years, for the reason that institution of a statutory electoral fee in 1959, {that a} northern minority has been appointed to steer it.
In all these many years, no northern minority group has ever questioned the choices of successive Heads of State or Presidents to nominate people they felt snug working with, even when the North West and North East held the place consecutively for 15 years.
We due to this fact crave the understanding of all Nigerians to see northern minorities as residents with equal stakes within the Nigerian challenge and to stop the behavior of fulmination every time one among us is entrusted with nationwide accountability.
We recall that this unlucky pattern of delegitimising northern minority appointments gained traction in the course of the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, when any appointment prolonged to a northern minority was derisively dismissed as “not northern sufficient.” The present ethnicisation of Professor Amupitan’s appointment is a direct continuation of that ugly and retrogressive pattern, and it should cease.
You will need to emphasise that the North will not be outlined by ethnicity; it’s a geographical expression which is broad, inclusive, and inherently multi-ethnic. These peddling this skewed, malicious rhetoric are, in fact, the enemies of nationwide unity and progress.
Accordingly, we want to state as follows:
This jejune narrative underscores our rising concern that a few of our northern colleagues proceed to understand northern minorities merely as fillers of demography, unworthy of the privileges and recognition that include our place within the federation.
Such pondering is antiquated, divisive, and inimical to the spirit of recent governance. After 65 years of independence, our directive precept ought to be competence, integrity, and capability, not these parochial sentiments which have stunted the expansion and improvement of our nice nation.
The appointment of Professor Amupitan ought to be celebrated as a daring step towards inclusivity, fairness, and meritocracy… these are values that should be internalised as a matter of nationwide urgency if we’re to strengthen our democracy.
We commend President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for recognising the variety of the North and for giving all constituent teams a way of belonging in his appointments.
The NNMG, due to this fact, cautions towards any additional try to polarise this nation alongside ethnic or sectional strains. We urge political actors, commentators, and residents alike to rise above petty identification politics and concentrate on constructing establishments that work, no matter who heads them.
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The time for ethnic arithmetic is over. The period of competence, equity, and nationwide accountability should start in earnest.
We should reiterate, with out ambiguity, that northern minorities collectively represent the true stabilising drive of this federation — and when positioned collectively, we’re not simply “minorities”; we’re the true majority that believes within the unity and progress of Nigeria.
Chief Jacob EDI
KAKAKI BASSANGE
CONVENER
Northern Nigeria Minorities Group
