The umbrella body of Yoruba self-determination Groups, Ilana Omo Oodua Worldwide, has dragged the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, SAN, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to court over eligibility of Nigeria’s 1999 constitution to conduct gubernatorial elections for Ekiti and Osun States.
The suits filed to challenge the validity of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria as amended will be mentioned on April 13 and 28 at Federal High Courts sitting in Osogbo, Osun State and Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State respectively.
20 persons, including the leader of the self-determination group, Professor Banji Akintoye; his Deputy, Professor Wale Adeniran; are demanding for a total decommissioning of the 1999 constitution to pave way for a referendum so that the indigenous people of Yoruba land can decide on their nationhood, first and foremost.
The group made this known in a statement signed by its Communications Secretary, Maxwell Adeleye, on Wednesday.
The group in the suit is argued that the 1999 constitution of Nigeria which INEC wants to use to conduct the two elections and subsequent elections in Nigeria is invalid, saying no referendum was conducted when it was enacted.
Adeleye revealed that a Constitutional Lawyer, Tolu Babaleye, Esq, will be the Lead Counsel for Ilana Omo Oodua Worldwide.
They are asking the courts to declare that “that no valid elections whether presidential, governorship, national and state assembly or councillorship elections 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.
“A Declaration that the forthcoming Ekiti State governorship election which is scheduled to be conducted in June, 2022 by the INEC cannot be validly held under the said illegal and invalid 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.
“An Order of this Honourable Court directing the Defendants jointly and severally to stay clear of Ekiti and Osun States in June and July 2022 and suspend with immediate effect the plans and arrangements they have put in place to conduct such an illegal election in Ekiti and Osun States of Nigeria.”, Adeleye, said in a statement on behalf of Ilana Omo Oodua Worldwide.”
