• Calls for state creation top list
From Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
The North Eeast team of the Senate Committee on Constitution Review has promised to uphold the inputs of the citizens in the constitution amendment and not impose its views on the outcome of the exercise.
The leader of the team and Senate Chief Whip, Mohammad Tahir Monguno, made the pledge on Friday in Maiduguri in an address at the opening of the Senate Committee public hearing on Constitution review for the Northeast zone.
Monguno (Borno North) who also represented the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, Deputy Senate President Barau Jubrin, assured that citizens’ voices would count in the outcome of the review.
He called on the people to make submissions on electoral and judicial reforms, local government administration, political inclusiveness and gender equality among others.
He said most Nigerians believe there is a need to review the 1999 constitution despite the previous amendment contained in the five schedules or addendum.
The Shehu of Borno, Abubakar Ibn Umar Garba Al Amin El-Kanemi, urged people to make greater inputs in the review to sustain the unity and peace of the country. He also appealed for return of the role of traditional institutions in Nigeria.
Former Senate President, Sen Ahmed Lawan, who currently represents Yobe North in the Senate, said the public hearing is an opportunity for the Northeast to show interest in the issues, which affect the country apart from the zone.
Requests for the creation of additional states in the Northeast top the lists of submissions at the Friday public hearing in Maiduguri. One of such requests is creation of Amana State out of the present Adamawa State.
Spokesman of the Amana State Movement, Ahmad Sajoh, told journalists at the event that the call by the people was aimed at “correcting historical injustice of the creation of states in Nigeria in the past.”