Yoruba Nation self-determination activists, led by Prof Banji Akintoye, have filed two suits before the Federal High Courts in Ado-Ekiti and Osogbo praying for declarations that the 1999 Constitution is fraudulent, illegal and invalid, because no referendum was conducted before it was enacted.
The activists, including Prof Wale Adeniran, also prayed the courts to declare that the forthcoming Ekiti and Osun governorship elections, which are scheduled to be conducted in June and July by the Independent National Electoral Commission, cannot be validly held under the said illegal and invalid constitution.
The Communications Manager, Ilana Omo Oodua, Mr Maxwell Adeleye, said in a statement on Wednesday that the suits were filed by the counsel for the Yoruba Nation agitators, Mr Tolu Babaleye.
The agitators listed the Attorney-General of the Federation and INEC as defendants in the two suits
Apart from Akintoye and Adeniran, an Ado Ekiti-based medical doctor, Chief Bayo Orire, and 15 others are demanding a total decommissioning of the 1999 Constitution to pave the way for a referendum so that the Yoruba people could decide on their nationhood first and foremost.
They argued that the preamble of the constitution claimed that the people of Nigeria solemnly resolved to live together and made the constitution, but that the document was fraudulent and should be declared null and void.
In the event that the above sole issue is resolved in the positive, the claimants prayed the court for the following reliefs:
“A declaration that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) is invalid, illegal and of no effect whatsoever by reason of its failure to satisfy the essential requirements of referendum and national consensus expected of a valid constitution.
“A declaration that the preamble/introductory passage to the 1999 Constitution inserted into the constitution by the military government, which says, ‘We the people of Nigeria have resolved to give ourselves a constitution’, is a lie when in the actual fact it was the military government that came up with the document and imposed it on the Nigerian people without any contribution from the Nigerian people; it has, therefore, rendered the constitution illegal, invalid and null and void and of no effect on the grounds of naked lie fraud.
“A declaration that no valid elections, whether presidential, governorship, national and state assembly or councillorship, can be validly held under the said invalid and fraudulent constitution as one cannot build something on nothing in law and expect it to stand.”
The group called on all Yoruba people, especially, self-determination activists in Ekiti and Osun states, to mobilise themselves and ensure that they were present in court in Osogbo and Ado-Ekiti whenever the cases were called for mention
The statement added, “This is a clarion call to our people within and beyond Yoruba land that it is time to jettison our personal interest for the overall interest of our land.History and posterity will never be kind to us if we miss this historic opportunity to salvage our land and restore our stolen nationhood. We must all come out in our large numbers to show solidarity, peacefully and lawfully, in support of this case because a landmark decision awaits the Yoruba people.”