The appointment of another Northerner as Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been described as a continuation of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration violation of the Nigerian Constitution on the Federal Character Principles.

Civil rights group, the Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA), said in a statement on Wednesday: “The skewed appointments tilted towards favouring only Hausa/Fulani Northern Moslems has far-reaching consequences on the unity and cohesion of the country because those who have in the last five years dominated the entire internal security and law enforcement infrastructures who are only Hausa/Fulani Moslems have failed to discharge their duties professionally and periodically but have often favoured their primordial and mundane considerations which is the fundamental cause of the extensive breakdowns of laws and order all across Nigeria.”

HURIWA wondered why the Nigerian Customs Service, the Nigerian Immigration Services, the Nigerian Prisons, the Nigerian Police and now the EFCC are all drawn from just from one religion and one region of the country.

The rights group said: “Our position is that appointing another northerner to head the EFCC will make it look like all the top echelons of the security forces and law enforcement agencies must be mostly Northerners and Moslems.

“This unconstitutional practice that has gone on since 2015 is illegal and absolutely intolerable. Nigerian security and law enforcement agencies must not be headed by mostly Northerners in a federation that is made up of a collection of diverse ethno-religious communities.

“It is both unconstitutional and unethical to do so when there are three dominant ethnic groups with over 300 other smaller nationalities and there are Moslems, Christians, African traditional religion adherents, and atheists in Nigeria but for five years the security of Nigeria has been in the hands of only Hausa/Fulani Northern Moslems.

“And yet the entire far North has been in tumultuous armed terrorism and these same persons appointed to head the internal security infrastructures because they are Moslem Northerners have failed to safeguard Nigerians and the President seems rudderless and helpless to act apparently fearing a backlash from his Moslem constituency who do not own Nigeria.”

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