IG Wala petitions Senate, Reps, seeks decentralisation of prosecutorial powers
*Alleges concentration of executive, legal and economic power in South-West/Yoruba bloc
By KEMI KASUMU
Wala highlighted what he described as a legal and prosecutorial imbalance, alleging that the offices of the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, and the Federal Character Commission are headed by individuals from the same ethnic extraction.
A Nigerian social critic and pro-democracy advocate, Comrade IG Wala, has petitioned the leadership of the National Assembly, urging urgent intervention over what he described as systemic violations of the Federal Character principle under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
In the petition addressed to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Wala alleged an increasing concentration of executive, legal and economic powers within a single ethnic bloc, specifically the South-West/Yoruba region, the ethnic group of the President.
The letter, dated January 12, 2026, is titled “Petition Against the Systemic Violation of the Federal Character Act and the Ethnic Concentration of State Power in Nigeria.” Citing Section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Federal Character Commission (Establishment) Act, Wala said the petition was submitted to prevent what he called “the total collapse of regional balance and democratic neutrality” in the country.
According to him, there is an “unprecedented concentration of executive, legal, and economic power within a single ethnic bloc,” which he said has created a “closed-loop system” that undermines national unity.
Wala highlighted what he described as a legal and prosecutorial imbalance, alleging that the offices of the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, and the Federal Character Commission are headed by individuals from the same ethnic extraction.
He also raised concerns over security and intelligence leadership, claiming that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Department of State Services (DSS), and the office of the Inspector-General of Police are controlled by the same regional bloc. According to him, this situation weakens checks and balances and increases the risk of law enforcement being used against political opponents from other regions.
On the economic front, Wala alleged what he termed an “economic monopoly,” pointing to the leadership of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), which he said are dominated by a single regional team, to the exclusion of the North, South-East and South-South.
Warning of the broader implications, Wala said history shows that when the “machinery of justice” becomes ethnically monolithic, selective prosecution, institutional distrust and national fragmentation become inevitable. He referenced past experiences in countries such as Côte d’Ivoire and Kenya, where similar imbalances, he said, contributed to civil unrest.
As part of the reliefs sought, Wala urged the National Assembly to mandate a federal character audit by conducting a public hearing on the regional distribution of top-level appointments made between 2023 and 2026. He also called for enforcement of what he described as the traditional “Chairman-Secretary” split in key commissions, especially the FCC and EFCC, between the North and South.
Additionally, he demanded the decentralisation of prosecutorial powers through the appointment of a more regionally diverse leadership within the Directorate of Public Prosecutions. He further asked the legislature to formally caution the Executive to ensure that the heads of the DSS, EFCC and the Nigeria Police are not drawn from the same region.
In his closing remarks, Wala warned lawmakers to act swiftly, saying public frustration was nearing a breaking point. “A democracy that excludes is a democracy in decay,” he stated.
The petition was also copied to international and regional bodies, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the African Union Commission, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the National Human Rights Commission.
