BY DAYO ADESULU
The ongoing process by the National Assembly to review the 1999 Constitution has been criticised by human rights activist, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN, adding that it is an effort in futility.
Instead of the constitution review, Adegboruwa is seeking a referendum where our co-existence ethnic group and region would be reexamined. ”Nigeria needs a new constitution,” he maintained.
The lawyer on Friday said, “In Section 9 of the constitution for which the National Assembly is hiding, there is a provision there that states that if you want to amend a constitution, if you want to do things that require fundamental operations of the existence of this nation, all you need do is to ensure there is a referendum, there is a particular process that will go around all the states of Nigeria.
“In other words, it is possible for the National Assembly in the efforts they are making, if at all they are sincere, with all due respect to them, to use this particular process to convene a National Conference for the purpose of agreeing on what will be the terms of the existence of this nation.
“The present process that is ongoing, if it is not meant to douse tension and deceive people just like the confab report, just like the APC (All Progressives Congress) report which was headed by the governor of Kaduna State, and that report has been gathering dust, just like the manifesto of the APC wherein 2015 they said they will amend the constitution to achieve devolution of powers and six years down the line, we are still rounding the same cycle by the same politicians who deceived us to give the vote.
“We can use the process to amend the constitution by gathering the views of the people and the views are known already: people say we want to control our destiny…Some people are even saying we should go back to the 1963 Constitution.
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“Is this the country we all clamoured for whereby everything has broken down; there is no electricity, there is no education, there is no security, there is no prosperity. People are suffering and some people are sitting in Abuja and wearing Agbada (flowing gowns) and speaking grammar on the television.
“The National Assembly effort at amending the constitution is a deception, it will not get us anywhere. Let Nigerians take their destinies in their hands and demand a process that will birth a new nation as demanded by the Northern Elders’ Forum, the Middle Belt Forum, the Southern governors, everybody is aggrieved that we should have a new constitution and that is possible.”
