A federal court has dismissed a suit seeking the exit of Igbos in the South-East out of Nigeria.
Recall that a group of northern factions has lodged a petition urging the court to mandate the leadership of the National Assembly to orchestrate the departure of the Igbo populace from the South-East region of Nigeria.
The suit was filed before an Abuja Federal High Court by a group of elders and politicians from the North led by Nastura Shariff, Balarabe Rufa’I, Abdul-Aziz Sulaiman, and Aminu Adam.
In their petition, they urged for this action to be taken before finalizing the ongoing revision of the Nigerian Constitution. The coalition contended that permitting the secession of the Igbos would quell the unrest and devastation in the South-East region.
They prayed for, among others, a declaration that combined the effect of the provisions of Section 4 of the Nigerian Constitution and Articles 1, 2, and 20 (1) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act 2004, “is empowered to set in motion a framework for a referendum to allow the south-eastern region of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to decide on their bid for self-determination.”
They also urged the court to order the second, third and fourth defendants (the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the National Assembly) “to provide a framework that will pave way for the self-determination of the south-eastern states to leave the geographical entity called Nigeria before any further step is taken to further amend the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
“The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria can be further amended at any time after the question of self-determination must have been resolved by Nigerians,” the plaintiffs said.
However, on Monday, Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo dismissed the suit due to the continued absence of the plaintiffs in court, which prevented them from substantiating their claims.
Despite the scheduled hearing, none of the plaintiffs appeared in court, nor were they represented by legal counsel.
Justice Ekwo, after going through the case file, discovered that the Northern groups had not been coming to court since 2022 and had no legal representation. In a brief ruling, the Judge held that from all indications, the plaintiffs had abandoned their suit.
Justice Ekwo therefore struck out the case for want of diligent prosecution.
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