It was in the news recently that state creation may not be given the prime position it deserves in the on­going constitution review or amendment at the National Assembly. The Thisday Newspaper report of Wednesday, August 19, 2009, quoted the Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Usman Bayero Nafada, to have said that the issue of state creation had been placed on “technical suspension”, as the House has chosen to concentrate on electoral reforms.

Much as I agree with the Hon. Deputy Speaker that the electoral reforms bill should be given expedited attention, which is even long over-due, it must be stated very clearly that non-creation of new states, especially in the South Eastern geo-political region, would amount to perpetuation of injustice and imbalance in  our representative democracy. That would be totally  unacceptable. 

The hallmark of representative democracy, the sort  that we propose to be practising in Nigeria is equality  of all before the law; which by extension includes the  need for equal representation, equal freedom and  equal justice. The National Assembly, the highest and most important symbol of law making and people-based-sovereignty in this country is a product of the conglomeration of all elected representatives taken  from existing states of the federation. Indeed, the claim  to the Federation of Nigeria is on the basis of states coming together from different geopolitical zones; each representing many diverse units of socio-cultural interests.

As presently constituted, the National Assembly has  two Chambers, or what is called a bicameral legislature, made up of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Senate is a 109-seat body with  three members from each state and one from the capital region of Abuja and members are elected by popular vote to four-year terms. On its part, the House of  Representatives contains 360 seats and the number of seats per state is determined by population; a method which is open to political manipulation. But  what stands out from the foregoing is that both the  Senate and the House of Representatives derive their  members from the number of the existing states of the Federation of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.  

As a carry-over from the military rule which incidentally ‘midwifed’ the promulgation of the present 1999 Constitution, the South Eastern geo-political  region presently boasts of only five (States, while all  others have six, and even seven states in a particular  case. What that means automatically is a form of system based disadvantage in representation against the South East geo-political region. The impact of this has been negatively felt through 1999 till date in the quality of representation that has emerged from the National Assembly towards affairs in the South East.

Things that other geopolitical regions can lobby and achieve by sheer weight of their numbers, the South Eastern zone must kow-tow to the powers s that be, and compromise their positions before favourable hearing may be expected, if at all. Even in Federal appointments, it is very obvious that the South East is short-changed, mainly because names  are submitted and selected on the basis of states of the Federation. Indeed, considered properly a  reform of the electoral system, without the reform (  call it creation) of the imbalance in states representation, will be like a job done half way. The whole idea behind electoral reform is to guarantee that we run people-based democratic government, where the votes count and the elected representatives equally support a balance of power that instructed our  peculiar sub-division into geo-political zones. That  balance of power is part of what has sustained our r democracy till date.

Without redressing such political imbalance, as we now have, it means the South East geopolitical zone – would engage in the next nationwide elections knowing already that it will be under-represented at the  National Assembly, at the Federal Executive Council, and even across Federal Boards of Corporations and  Ministries. One always likes to desist from reading  into this sort of situation the much talked about, or  much known, marginalisation of the South East, for  the simple reason that we should have over-grown such sentiments. But each time and everywhere one looks, it still seems as if the problem of rnarginalisation and orchestrated injustice against sections of this country is very much with us.

The worry is even aggravated when elected representatives, including even the Governors from the South East zone all adopt the ‘sidon-look’ attitude. Why would the Governors not come together and  form a powerful lobby group to ensure that their geo­political zone is not short-changed in such a fundamental and far-reaching manner? Why do they see problems that would have collateral damage and negative impact on their zones, and simply look the other way?

Before now, it was the manipulation of national census to the extent that the South East is now virtually the least populated in the country; and yet South Easterners to the knowledge of every Nigerian, thickly populate all corners of Nigeria. In the allocation of House of Representatives seats, and electoral constituencies, population is the main yard­stick; and so it means that which ever zone has succeeded in piling up its numbers would automatically get more representative seats and constituencies. The highly commended posture of Lagos State, which instituted parallel head-count during the last controversial census simply proved how much of manipulation goes into juggling the figures after each head count. Lagos State eventually came out with figures that truly justify the influx of people into the State on daily basis. Today, the revenue base of Lagos State is the envy of even the Federal government.

The question then is for how long would the Governors of South Eastern States, and elected representatives sit and wait for an elusive help to come from outside the zone? How long would they helplessly lament the incident of marginalisation, while resolving, by their present inaction, to do nothing about the situation? Why would someone continue to participate in a game where the rules are programmed, ab initio, to work against him?

Irrespective of the position being taken by the National Assembly towards creation of more states, the South Easterners should rise up to show they have a special case. The issue is really not creation of state per se, but redressing an imbalance; which if not redressed would make nonsense of the outcome of the electoral reform. The South East should as a matter of national importance be given even representation by creation of at least one additional State. It is such a matter of importance to the political welfare of the South East that they should be ready and prepared to boycott future elections if this is not included in the on-going constitutional review.

Unegbe is a legal practitioner in Lagos.

Ikechukwu Unegbe