Some members of the Coalition of Northern Groups have filed a suit at a Federal High Court in Abuja to compel the National Assembly to remove the south-east from Nigeria before concluding the ongoing constitutional amendment.
The plaintiffs led by Nastura Shariff, Balarabe Rufa’I, Abdul-Aziz Sulaiman and Aminu Adam made the plea before the court in a supporting affidavit.
They said their action was informed by the need to contain violence and destruction being allegedly occasioned by the agitation for secession led by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Listed as defendants in the suit are the atttorney general of the federation, Senate president, speaker of the House of Representatives and the National Asembly.
The plaintiffs said they did not want a repeat of the 1967 to 1970 civil war in Nigeria that cost the country millions of lives and property worth billions of naira.
Some lawyers from the south-east led by Chuks Muoma, Ukpai Ukairo, Ebere Uzoatu and Obi Emuka have applied to the court to join them as defendants in the suit.
They are asking for order of the court to allow them join in the suit as representatives of the people of the south eastern region.
In their application for joinder filed by Victor Onweremadu in Abuja on Monday, they said the case of the northern elders seeking the exit of south-east from Nigeria had the capability to shape the life of the generation of Igbo people.
The motion on notice for the joinder request was brought pursuant to order 9 rule 5 and order 26 rule 2 of the federal high court civil procedure rule 2019.
