Britain Please Be Advised: The 1999 Nigeria Constitution Is A Weapon Of Mass Destruction By Ndidi Uwechue

The NINAS Movement steadily and surely sweeping through the NINAS Territory (Lower Niger Bloc, Yoruba Bloc, and Middle Belt Bloc) is the only non-violent and ORDERLY way to manage and contain the wreckage of Nigeria. It is therefore not just disappointing, but quite dangerous too that on May 19, 2021, newspapers reported that British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, had said that the United Kingdom would deny visas to Nigerians who disrupt 2023 general elections. On the face of it, one would think that Ms Laing was supporting democracy and fair play. However, given that since 16th December 2020, Nigeria became a DISPUTED PROJECT, her message to Nigerians actually promotes the country’s high corruption, impunity and increasing insecurity from Islamic terrorism, and it is squarely against the people’s NINAS Movement that actually brings real democracy and rule of law into the Nigerian space.

It is a great pity that Ms Laing (or her advisers) had seemingly not considered the clear and United Nations-guided NINAS Notice of Constitutional Force Majeure of last 16th December, where the indigenous peoples of the NINAS territory made it globally known that they had Repudiated the illegitimate 1999 Constitution that they never made or agreed to, so were no longer going to tolerate such an unjust situation, and therefore the general elections of 2023 needed to be SUSPENDED, so that this clearly wrong situation can be peacefully corrected by dialogue and negotiation. It is under such national grievances that Ms Laing, rather than side with the indigenous peoples who seek peace, democracy, and an end to terrorism, sides with those who want to renew the life of the illegitimate 1999 Constitution, which happens via elections! Renewal of the life of that 1999 Constitution comes about when the winner (or rigger) of elections swears an Oath of Office to uphold that Constitution over their people for the next four years.  

It is also a great pity that Ms Laing (or her advisers) had seemingly not approached the Lower Niger Congress (LNC) the self-determination organisation that for over two decades, since the illegitimate instrument of governance known as the “1999 Constitution” was imposed on the peoples of Nigeria, had been working to get that offensive document Decommissioned in a peaceful and intelligent manner, acceptable to the United Nations and to the international community. LNC is the originator of the NINAS Constitutional Force Majeure Strategy, and the lead self-determination organisation in an Alliance with Yoruba and Middle Belt self-determination organisations. The global community had been wondering why Nigerians flee the country in huge numbers, heading mainly for the West, but also increasingly now, for the Orient, and it is the work of the LNC that has shown the world that the imposed 1999 Constitution is the source of that mass migration. It creates an intolerable environment: a corrupt, retarding Nigeria, and it is also now being used to bring about genocide of the indigenous peoples, plus it is being used to allow Islamist terrorism into the Nigerian space.

It is also a great pity that Ms Laing (or her advisers) had seemingly not gotten acquainted with the conclusions of some key respectable international Hearings, Meetings and Reports on the state of Nigeria such as the following:

1. At different times, from 2018 Lord Alton of Liverpool in various House of Lords Debates had stated that the increasing deadly violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt cannot be accurately referred to as “farmer-herder” conflicts:- “Given the escalation, frequency, organisation and asymmetry of Fulani attacks, does the Minister believe that the references to ‘farmer-herder clashes’ still suffice? In the face of the reports of violence collected by impartial human rights groups, there is no place here for, as it were, moral equivalence; nor is it sufficient for the Government merely to urge all sides to seek dialogue and avoid violence…” 
2. In September 2019, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Extrajudicial and Arbitrary Executions Ms Agnes Callamard stated:- “…overall situation that I encountered in Nigeria gives rise to extreme concern. By many measures, the Federal authorities and the international partners are presiding over an injustice-pressure cooker. Some of the specific contexts I examined are simmering…. warning signs are flashing bright red: increased numbers of attacks and killings over the last five years with a few notable exceptions; increased criminality and spreading insecurity; widespread failure by the Federal authorities to investigate and hold perpetrators to account, even for mass killing…”
3. June 15, 2020, the United Kingdom All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief Report titled, “Nigeria – Unfolding Genocide?”:- “…Nigerian Christians are experiencing devastating violence, with attacks by armed groups of Islamist Fulani herders resulting in the killing, maiming, dispossession and eviction of thousands. The exact death toll is unknown…”
4. December 2020:- under the duo of retired Major-General Muhammadu Buhari and Professor of Law and Pastor Yemi Osinbajo, Nigeria was designated a Country of Particular Concern by the US Department of State, plus is under investigation by the International Criminal Court for Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes. 
5. On 17th December 2020 the influential USA House of Representatives non-partisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Hearing on “Conflict and Killings in Nigeria’s Middle Belt”:- Nigeria has very severe security and human rights challenges, has no effective civilian security, no effective police protection, and terrorists appear to enjoy freedom of movement. All this meaning that organised criminals are terrorising Nigerians across the country. 
6. Witnesses to the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Hearing (mentioned above) pointed to the ethnic cleansing against indigenous peoples of the Middle Belt, mainly Christians, but also moderate Moslems, by Fulani herdsmen militia/terrorists. What was also clear from this Hearing is that mounting evidence points to an actual genocide unfolding in the Middle Belt, and current events in Nigeria indicate that the slaughter and land grabbing is spreading southwards. In fact, in the presentation made by Baroness Cox, she provided a slide with information that as at May 2020, 350 Igbo villages had become occupied by Fulani herders and Shuwa Arab mercenaries. The slide also stated that Boko Haram has killed 43,000 people and Islamist Fulani had killed 19,000.
7. Jubilee Campaign Executive Director Ann Buwalda spoke at the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Hearing (mentioned above):- “…Jubilee Campaign submits for the record our detailed Brief that we provided to the International Criminal court and in which we argue that genocide has taken place in the Middle Belt of Nigeria. It is our finding that Boko Haram and Fulani militants are committing acts of genocide. Fulani militants pose a mortal threat to the predominantly Christian farming tribes in the Middle Belt and surrounding states, but the Nigerian government is failing both to protect the victims of Fulani militant violence and to bring the perpetrators to justice according to its duty. As a member of the Genocide Convention, it is time for the United States to place pressure on Nigeria to end the impunity and offer security to the victims in communities in Nigeria vulnerable to Fulani militant attacks and violence…”
8. On 28th April 2021, the USA’s Former Members of Congress Association (FMC) hosted an important meeting via Zoom titled, “Human Rights In Nigeria And The Role Of Congress”. Key realities brought up in the meeting included: 

• Islamic State West Africa Province (ie ISIS) and Al-Qaeda are operating in Nigeria, and together with Fulani militants are committing crimes against humanity and genocide.
• Nigeria’s Lake Chad region could become a breeding ground and staging area for attacks against the West for terrorism, and the resurgence of ISIS into Iraq.
• With Nigeria’s unravelling, Europe would face an existential threat.
• Nigeria’s worsening situation is a warning of a refugee crisis of enormous proportions.
• Increasing mass migration of Nigerians heading for the West. 
• Massive government corruption. 

Nigeria has an estimated population of over 200 million, and it cannot be stressed enough that Nigeria as currently constituted is UNFIT TO LIVE IN. People are therefore fleeing the Nigeria created by the illegitimate 1999 Constitution. It is a Constitution of unknown origin, shrouded in secrecy but which benefits the Fulani, a settler and immigrant people. That document creates a Unitary system such that Central government has enormous powers, and when the wrong type of people manage to grab hold of power, what obtains is an anti-people, extremely corrupt, tyrannical style of governance. President Buhari, a Fulani man, despite continued protests from indigenous peoples, has filled his rank of leadership with Fulani, such that all key ministries and agencies are headed by Fulani. That has led some to call it the “Fulani government of Nigeria”, and it is under this regime that Nigerians are experiencing deadly violence from Fulani herdsmen militia and terrorists, plus land grab by Fulani.

The illegitimate 1999 Constitution enables the Fulani-majority government structure, via the Unitary system, to cripple the indigenous peoples making them powerless to protect themselves against marauding Fulani invaders and Islamist terrorists. It is therefore vital for the stability of the West African region, and to prevent a refugee crisis on a grand scale that would also impact Europe, that the NINAS Movement to Decommission the 1999 Constitution not be hindered by foreign interference. In addition, that same Constitution, that does not have the consent of the governed, is also used as a weapon by government to grab the resources of indigenous peoples, just as an armed robber uses a gun to rob his victims, and to even kill them. 

The NINAS Movement therefore insists that the life of the 1999 Constitution cannot be renewed by yet another round of general elections in 2023! It is unwise for the UK’s Ms Laing, with Nigeria a Disputed Project, to threaten to deny visas to those who support the NINAS Movement and thus the ORDERLY PROCESS of Constitutional Force Majeure which includes suspension of the 2023 general elections so that the injustice of operating an illegitimate 1999 Constitution is first corrected. It is evident that if the non-violent NINAS Movement is prevented, then the only option left would be armed conflict, because indigenous peoples will not give in to the Fulani agenda that is a “mortal threat” to them.

Frankly, if the UK decides to interfere in the Decommissioning of an illegitimate 1999 Constitution that is a known forgery, would it then be prepared to host the tens of millions of refugees that would ensue? Therefore, the UK and the alarmed international community should support the NINAS Movement that simply wants democracy and a terrorist-free existence in peace.

Ndidi Uwechue is a British citizen with Igbo heritage from the Lower Niger Bloc. She is a retired Metropolitan (London) Police Officer, she is a signatory to the Constitutional Force Majeure, and she writes from Abuja.