…Tinubu Should Have Political Will To Get Nigeria New Constitution – Ozekhome
…NBA Abuja, branch supports the call, describes it as a step in the right direction
… constitution is not our problem, but lack of adherence to existing laws – Osagie
Nigerians including lawyers have expressed different opinions in response to the call by the Patriots group for President Bola Tinubu to draft a new Constitution for the country.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mike Ozekhome, in his reaction, urged President Bola Tinubu to muster the political will to get Africa’s most populous nation what he described as a people-centred constitution.
The human rights lawyer was a guest on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics show. He is a member of The Patriots, a group of eminent Nigerians led by former Commonwealth Secretary-General Chief Emeka Anyaoku who met with the President on Friday at the State House in Abuja.
Asked whether the President has the political will to make a new constitution happen, the senior lawyer said, “Well, he should have the political will because these problems will not go away until we tackle it headlong”.
Further asked whether a new constitution is an antidote to poverty, insecurity, and other challenges confronting the Nigerian state, Ozekhome said, “It is. The killings you are seeing, the poverty, the corruption, they are all symptoms of a larger problem which is the basis of what we are talking about. When you solve it, other things will be in place.”
Ozekhome argued that the 1999 Constitution was military-imposed, and not subject to any referendum. He said Nigeria needs an indigenous and people-centric constitution to redirect the country’s “journey of no destination”.
According to him, Nigeria lacks nationhood. “Nigeria is a country still yearning for nationhood. We are not united,” he said. The brand new constitution must be subjected to the referendum of the people, he added.
Asked whether Nigeria must constitute a constituents’ assembly before a new constitution, the senior advocate said, “We have to have a constituents’ assembly and only the National Assembly can pass a law in that regard. Then, the draft constitution will now be signed by Mr President and we will have a constitution.”
He said if the people agree that they want a unicameral legislature, “that is how it is going to be” because democracy is decided by the people.
‘Engine Of Nigerian State Knocked’
Ozekhome further stated that the engine (constitution) of the Nigerian state has knocked and should be replaced.
“The political elite has to agree. If you are driving a car and the car has a knocked engine. Is it not the engine you should look at? Do you begin to panel-beat the car, spray it with beautiful paint, and buy new tyres? Will that move the car?
“I am saying that the engine of the Nigerian state, for now, is knocked and it is giving rise to all these mutual suspicion, religious intolerance.”
He said economic reforms are good but must not be put before a people-centred constitution. He said the National Assembly must agree to a new constitution for the problems of Nigeria to vanish.
Ozekhome’s comments followed the 2014 National Conference Report which recommended constitutional, amendment, community policing, fiscal federalism, and restructuring, among others.
A decade ago, then President Goodluck Jonathan and other leaders organised the conference to proffer workable suggestions on how to move the country forward.
The national dialogue began on March 17, 2014, with the late respected Jurist, Justice Idris Kutigi (retd.), as its chairman.
494 Nigerians from all walks of life attended the conference for about five months. About N10bn was spent on the confab which produced over 600 recommendations including suggestions for the restructuring of Nigeria’s political, economic, social and security systems to quell agitations from different geopolitical sections and achieve long-lasting peace.
However, the recommendations of the confab have not been implemented by successive administrations.
NBA Abuja Branch Supports Need For New Constitution
Also, some group of lawyers led by Obioma Ezenwobodo, past Chairman of the Garki Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Abuja, supported the call, describing it as a step in the right direction.
He argued that the current 1999 Constitution is essentially a military decree falsely presented as being created by the people of Nigeria.
Ezenwobodo criticized the existing Constitution for not reflecting the diverse expressions and intentions of the various segments of Nigeria, as it was imposed by the military rather than derived from the people’s resolutions.
In his words, “We need a new Constitution that will address existential challenges confronting us which includes: resource control, regionalism, referendum, citizenship, land tenure system, economic structure, security issues and other related issues.
“Though, there is an issue with bad operations of the extant Constitution but it will reduce drastically when people’s Constitution is in place as it will imbue ownership and organic support for the new Constitution”, he added.
Conversely, Dr. Samson Osagie, a legal practitioner and Vice President of the African Bar Association, argued that the country’s challenges are not due to inadequate legislation but rather a lack of adherence to existing laws by both the people and leaders.
“I think we should not devote our precious time in another round of Constitution making when the extant Constitution makes provisions for how it can be reviewed from time to time.
“It is an old time tradition to call for the remaking of a new Constitution. The calls should be for the nation to enforce, implement and obey the laws and the Constitution.
“There is nothing wrong fundamentally with our laws but there is a lot wrong with both the people and the government in implementing the laws and the constitution”, he explained.
Recall, the Patriots, a group of eminent Nigerians, had urged the President to convene a national constituent assembly, composed of directly elected individuals from the 36 states of the federation and the FCT, to draft a people’s democratic Constitution.
The group suggested that the assembly be assisted by seven constitutional lawyers, representing each of the six geo-political zones and the FCT.
The deliberations should consider the 1960/63 Constitutions, the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference, and other relevant national conferences.
Chief Anyaoku, speaking on behalf of the group, also said, “The draft Constitution, produced by the constituent assembly, should be put to a national referendum and if approved, should then be signed by the President as the genuine Nigerian people’s constitution”.
