By Cajetan Mmuta
Nigerians and Nigerians are at crossroads over which constitution to embrace following the myriads of challenges confronting the country and her citizens following questionable imbalances and issues surrounding the corporate existence of all the components units and people of the nation.
At the center of the crises remain the unpalatable provisions in the existing 1999 constitution which are subject to review to accommodate the yearnings and expectations of various sections of the country.
Presently, there are opposition views to the current efforts by the National Assembly to review the 1999 constitution and some are of the view that Nigeria either subjects itself to the 1963 constitution or has the holistic implementation of the 2014 National Conference report.
To Hon. Chibunna John Okolie Akirika, a senior lawyer and Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra state, the “attempt to review the 1999 constitution is a plot to postpone the doomsday” and “an exercise in futility.”
He noted that people of the country had at the 2014 National Conference spoken loud with one language, pointing out that it beholds of the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure a holistic implement the outcome of that conference for a better, peaceful, and united Nigeria.
“If you talking about having an exhaustive amendment of the constitution, what to do is to go back to the 2014 conference report, exhume that, fine-tune it, because it is all-encompassing and complete. And whatever they want to do the Presidency can sponsor it as an executive bill. It is cost-effective and convenient; it is even patriotic because that was an exercise in which all Nigerians participated,” he said.
He explained that “After the amalgamation of the country in 1914 Nigeria had the first constitution christened the Clifford’s Constitution of 1922, that was followed by Richard’s constitution of 1945, the Littleton Constitution of 1957 and eventually the Independent Constitution of 1960. The republican constitution of 1963, the Obasanjo constitution of 1979, the unborn Abacha constitution, the ill-fated constitution of 1989, and eventually the Abubakar constitution of 1999 that gave birth to the current democratic dispensation.”
“If you take a look at these series of constitutions you will see that the most indigenous of all these constitutions were that of 1960 and that of 1963. So, when you look at the preamble to the 1999 constitution which says that ‘We the people of Nigeria’, to me, it is a legal fraud because the antecedents of that are that Nigerians never converged, they never sat together; Nigerians never agreed to the content of that constitution.”
“So, the phrase ‘we the people of the federal republic of Nigeria is a political fraud. If you are talking about an amendment we have to talk about the ground norm, what is it? You have to go to the basics, source, and foundation of the country and that is the people.
“So, I would say that the current attempt, the current exercise, and the current enterprise to amend the Nigerian constitution is what I may call an attempt to delay the doomsday. It is an attempt to divert attention because it is on record that the entire segments of this country gathered in a conference and produced the widely accepted, widely comprehensive and all-encompassing 2014 National Conference.”
Akirika stated that “If in effect the present administration is interested in tampering with constitutions all it should do is very simple; it is to have an honest recourse of that 2014 constitutional conference and whatever they want to do with it, whatever that is needed apart from the issue of state creation which is still not relevant but if for the purposes of that we now talk about that.”
“Everything Nigerians need is in that constitutional conference. So, I would have expected like what I said when President Buhari came on board, is that what Buhari should have done was to have dusted that 2014 conference, give it to honest and patriotic Nigerians, they now fine-tune it and now present it as an executive bill otherwise this jamboree that is now ongoing in various states and geo-political zones which will amount to nothing but to waste our resources and waste of time.”
According to him, “It (the ongoing review) is an attempt to postpone the doomsday because at the end of the day the agitations will continue. So, what he should is not necessarily to junket about talking about constitutional amendment; what he should do is to have recourse to the 2014 conference.”
“Every subject matter from restructuring, devolution of powers, state police, state religion, everything is contained in that conference report. So, what they are now doing is maybe apparently because of the genuine agitations by IPOB, Oduduwa, Middle Belt, and some other elements in the north. They are now beginning to think that the best way to quell that is to get this constitutional review.’
“It doesn’t make sense; look at all the amendments, first second, third, fourth and others, they are all centered on the electoral system, from the first to the last, all are centered on the electoral process vis-a-vis the jurisdiction of certain courts like the National Industrial Court, the period within which to commence and conclude electoral petitions.”
“You see, there was no genuine attempt to actually articulate the grievances of Nigerians and take easily, effectively, and beneficially amend the constitution. So, I don’t see the present exercise being a radical solution to the problems.”
The PDP scribe insisted that “the ongoing review of the 1999 constitution is an exercise in futility. It is an attempt to shy away from reality on the ground because already Nigerians had come together to decide on how to live together in simple language. In simple language, the 2014 conference contains what I may call articles of association, a memorandum of understanding for and by Nigerians. So, we should not be wasting the time and resources of Nigerians, everything that is worth discussing Nigeria is contained in that conference report.”
