The Patriots, the group of elder statesmen and leaders of thought has begun to reach out to more critical stakeholders in the advocacy for a new people’s constitution for the country.
The Nigerian Tribune also gathered that the adhoc committee set by the organisation is to meet this week to produce a work plan based on its mandate.
A competent source in the Strategy and Advocacy Committee, told the Nigerian Tribune, at the weekend, that his committee was already holding consultations with other critical stakeholders in the country towards building a national consensus on the assignment of his committee.
He said the members will meet this week to prepare the chain of programme of action to be embarked upon based on the goal of The Patriots.
“We are having a meeting next week. It is then that we are going to outline some events that we are planning to do. We are reaching out to people informally,” the source said.
The proposed meeting is coming as The Patriots announced restructuring to reflect the geopolitical spread of the country.
The new structure was confirmed by the secretary of the body, Olawale Okunniyi, in a report of the meeting on the inauguration of the Strategy and Advocacy Committee For the Peoples’ Constitution and the review of its presidential visit held on August 26 in Lagos.
The meeting was convened under the leadership of Chief Emeka Anyaoku to address the urgent need for a new constitution in Nigeria and to inaugurate the committee.
According to the report, the leader resolved that a mass mobilisation effort is essential to galvanize the Nigerian public in support of the new constitution and that the strategy and advocacy committee was tasked with developing and implementing strategies to educate citizens on the importance of this initiative and to generate widespread public backing.
It added that the leaders noted that engaging with stakeholders across the country was critical to ensure that the process and outcome of the new constitution align with the people’s agenda.
The report added that engagement with the National Assembly and Presidency was important, stressing the importance of follow-up discussions with the president and National Assembly members to advance the advocacy process.
On the expansion of The Patriots’ leadership structure, the report stated: “The meeting addressed the need for balanced representation within The Patriots’ leadership.
“It was proposed that four other offices representing four other geopolitical zones be created to join the two existing traditional offices of the Patriots.
“To this end, four new offices were proposed to be zoned to the North-West, North-East, North-Central and South-South to join the existing traditional offices namely chairman: Chief Emeka Anyaoku (South-East) and secretary: Olawale Okunniyi (South-West) to ensure that The Patriots officers are drawn from Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones to avoid perceptions of sectional bias.
“The house approved a proposal to have members from each geopolitical zone nominate their representative for leadership roles within The Patriots. These nominations will be ratified at the next meeting.”
Meanwhile, the 38-member strategy and advocacy committee, headed by Professor Anthony Kila, was mandated to reach out and consult with various stakeholders and citizens to submit a comprehensive report to the secretariat of The Patriots on January 21, 2025.
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