Nigeria’s Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and the Speaker House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas have been called upon to quickly checkmate what has been described as the systemic violation of the Federal Character Act and ethnic concentration of state power in Nigeria in other to forestall the total collapse of regional balance and democratic neutrality in the federation.
In a petition dated January 12, 2026, signed by one Comrade IG Igala on behalf of others and addressed to the Senate President and his House of Representatives counter-part, the petitioners amongst others said their position was pursuant to Section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and the Federal Character Commission (Establishment) Act. ‘
We raise this alarm to prevent the total collapse of regional balance and democratic neutrality in our federation” they posited. Their grievances among other things included “ethnic capture of key institutions, which they said was of grave concern as such unprecedented concentration of executive, legal, and economic power within a single ethnic bloc (South-West/Yoruba), has created a “closed-loop” system that undermines the spirit of national unity.
Specifically, they mentioned that there is already a Legal & Prosecutorial Imbalance due to the simultaneous heading of the Ministry of Justice (AGF), the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP), and the Federal Character Commission (FCC) by individuals of the same ethnic extraction.
They argued further that Security & Intelligence concentration and control of the EFCC, DSS, and the Inspector General of Police by the same ethnic bloc is worrisome.
“This removes the checks and balances necessary to ensure that law enforcement is not weaponized against political rivals from other regions.”
Economic Monopoly by the people of the Southwest is another part of the grievances as the leadership of the Central Bank (CBN), Ministry of Finance, and FIRS (Revenue) by a singular regional team,is unarguably marginalizing the diverse economic interests of the North, South-East, and South-South.
Giving exemplary implications and democratic danger in the entire arrangement, the petitioners recalled that ​history warns that when the “Machinery of Justice” (Police, Intelligence, and Prosecutors) is ethnically monolithic, the risk of ​Selective Prosecution (Lawfare) as seen in the recent surge of investigations targeting only opposition leaders from the North and South-East, while ignoring similar allegations within the ruling circle becomes inevitable.
The petitioners also noted that institutional distrust arose from similar imbalances in countries like Côte d’Ivoire and Kenya which historically led to civil unrest when marginalized groups realized they could no longer find a “neutral referee” in state institutions.
They warned that the current “insensitivity” to these cries for fairness is radicalizing citizens and pushing them toward regional extremism. The petitioners have therefore asked the lawmakers to ​mandate a Federal Character Audit to conduct an immediate public hearing on the regional distribution of “Grade A” appointments made between 2023 and 2026.
They have also asked for the ​enforcement of the “Chairman-Secretary” Split to ensure that in all commissions, especially the FCC and EFCC, the two top leadership roles are split strictly between the North and South as per statutory tradition.
Decentralization of the prosecution power is another prayer of the group as they demand the appointment of a more regionally diverse team within the Directorate of Public Prosecutions to restore confidence in the neutrality of the justice system.
They also want the National Assembly to issue a formal caution advising the Executive to uphold the “Spirit of the Law” by ensuring that the heads of the DSS, EFCC, and Police are not drawn from the same region.
In their petition, they urged the lawmakers to act speedily before the anger of the citizens reaches a breaking point explaining that “a democracy that excludes is a democracy in decay.”
