L-R: Governor Peter Mbah (middle), Senator Victor Umeh (4th); Senator Ngwu(5th); Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi(6th), Senator Orji Uzor Kalu (8th); Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (8th) and others during the courtesy visit to Governor Mbah.
By Tony Adibe
Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, has called for the creation of an additional state for the Southeast to equalise it with the other five geopolitical zones. Governor Mbah also made a case for rotational presidency and state police to give every part of the country a sense of belonging and secure the nation better.
He spoke on Thursday evening when he received in audience members of the Senate Committee on Constitution Amendment, who were on a courtesy visit to him at Government House, Enugu. This is coming ahead of the regional public hearing on constitution amendment holding at the International Conference Centre, Enugu, during the weekend.
He said, “One that excites us most is the idea of state policing. We have advocated ardently that there is a need for states to create state police services, just as you have the federal police, but with defined jurisdictions and operational parameters.
“We think that this is overdue, and there could not be a better time for that, given the fragilities we have in our various communities. The state police will be a truly welcome development in our Constitution.
“The Southeast suffers injustice. The fact that across the different geopolitical zones, the Southeast is the only one with five states. So that is also what we believe will be corrected in this process of amendment. Of course, the idea of rotational presidency is important too. We think that would provide Southeast and every other region a chance at the presidency.
“So, these are areas we believe are commendable and we will be presenting our position formally in the hearing tomorrow and the subsequent days.”
Earlier, the Senate Deputy Chief Whip and leader of the delegation, Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi, said the Committee was in Enugu to get the inputs of the people of the Southeast into the constitution amendment process.
“It goes without saying that the 1999 constitution has received a lot of criticisms from Nigerians, including that it is the product of military dictatorship and, as such, does not represent the interests of all the segments that make up Nigeria. As a result of these criticisms. There is a need to alter the constitution from time to time.
“We pray that this engagement will afford us the people of South East the opportunity to right some wrongs as a result of the position of the 1999 constitution, which we the people of South East are crying foul that we are being marginalised in so many areas, particularly as it relates to the number of states, juxtaposing same with other geopolitical zones of Nigeria,” Nwebonyi stated.
