The Christian Lawyers Fellowship of Nigeria, CLASFON, rose from its three-day meeting held in Akure, calling on the Federal Government to heed the call for the restructuring of the country.
The meeting was held from June 7 to 9, 2018.
In a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, CLASFON declared that restructuring remained the solution to the various problems confronting the country.
“We are strongly of the view that the cure to these ills is urgent restructuring of the polity and urge the President to heed the various calls from sincere Nigerians for the restructuring to avoid Nigeria becoming a failed nation,” the group said.
In its review of the general situation of the country, the group identified insecurity and non-adherence to the rule of law among others as the major challenges of the country.
In the communiqué which was signed by its National President, Mr. Arome Okwori and National Secretary, Tunji Omole, the group expressed dismay over continuous downward slide of the state of security of the nation.
It said the state of insecurity had become obvious following various extra judicial killings of innocent and hapless citizens whose security and protection was the primary function of government.
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“Evidences abound in the recent killings in Taraba, Benue, Zamfara, Jos and other states of the federation.
“The recent statement of the Minister of Defence insinuating that the killings will not stop until the cancellation of the anti-open grazing laws of states is a confirmation of the suspicion that the killings enjoy federal government tacit support,” it said.
The group urged the president to urgently act fast to save the nation.
In the same vein, CLASFON said it viewed with dismay the penchant of the Nigerian Police Force in conducting criminal investigations in the print, audio-visual and social media in a manner amounting to media trial.
It also expressed dismay over the failure of the government to secure the release of Leah Sharibu and other Chibok girls still being held by Boko Haram.
Another issue of major concern to the group is the alleged systemic neglect of the judiciary.
The neglect, it said, had resulted in the deterioration and near collapse of infrastructures, lack of training of staff particularly registry staff and delay in the confirmation of appointments of judges of superior Courts months after the NJC had sent in their recommendations.
“We view this as an attempt to whittle down established institutions from performing their constitutional function which is an hallmark of dictatorial despotism. This has translated to poor service delivery by the various courts manifesting in delayed trials and hearing of cases” the group said.
Also, it complained about the alleged continuous flagrant disregard of court orders and judgements by the Executive arm of government.
That, it said, had consequently whittled down the confidence of the populace in the judicial process and eroded the concept of Rule of Law as enshrined in the nation’s constitution.