By Kingsley Chukwuka
The Senator Representing Plateau North at the National Assembly, Senator Istifanus Gyang has said the call for secession and agitation in some parts of the country is due to the lopsided appointments by the present administration
Sen. Gyang said if the federal character principle was applied every region would have had a sense of belonging.
The Senator stated this on Monday in Jos, during a mid-term press briefing with Journalists, tagged “Positive Impact Mandate”.
According to him: “The federal character principle should always be a criteria for appointment. With each passing day, it is becoming apparent that President Muhammadu Buhari’s suspected ethnocentric and nepotistic tendencies are attaining an embarrassing proportion.
“There are cogent reasons why this action calls for concern. First, it is a violation of the principle of Federal Character. The principle of Federal Character, as contained in Act No. 34 of 1996, which established the Federal Character Commission, is an attempt to entrench fairness and equity in the distribution of public posts and socio-economic infrastructure among the various federating units of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“It has been featuring in Nigeria’ constitution since 1979. And it is in the current 1999 constitution.
“Section 14 (3) of the 1999 constitution reads: 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 States or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or any of its agencies”, Gyang said.
“If the present leadership would not allow the federal character to holdsway, the call for seccesion and agitation will continue to steer on our face”, the Senator added.
However Gyang said he has pushed for various Bills in the Senate and that two of his Bills has already received Presidential assent.
“Already two of my Bills have received Presidential assent and are now Acts of the National Assembly. They are the National Fertilizer Production and Regulation Act and the Federal College of Laboratory Science Technology Jos establishment Act”, he said.
Our correspondent reports that while in the House of Representatives, Senator Gyang processed and sponsored over 35 Bills and in the Senate at Mid Term, he has been rated at several times among the leading Senators in terms of Bills.