Nigeria needs brand new constitution ― Afenifere

The Afenifere, a pan Yoruba group on Monday made case for a new constitution for the country, saying that the 1999 constitution was a fraud.

“Afenifere believes the country needs a brand new constitution agreed to by all the nationalities in the country”, the National Leader of the group, Chief Ayo Adebanju said in Abuja while speaking at Nigeria’s ‘2023 Presidential Transition Inter-Ethnic Peace Dialogue which held in Abuja.

The present 1999 constitution, he said is tilted in favour of the North against the South and added that, based on this fraud, prescribe sumptuous monthly financial allocation to the states, that produce very little if at all, while those which produce more get only a bit.”

Adebanju said, if a new constitution is made on the basis of true federalism, there will be no more agitations for Biafra, there will be no more agitations for Oduduwa Republic and other self-determination groups.

He said an amendment to the 1999 constitution will be a waste of time as it is not the constitution of the people and called on President Muhammadu Buhari to allow the country to have a constitution that prescribes genuine and true federalism that heralds a restructured Nigeria.

According to the group, “The irreducible minimum condition of Yorubaland of being part of Nigeria is a restructured Nigeria to Federalism. Yorubaland will not be in Nigeria under the present military-imposed constitution.

“It is on record that we are the only organization that has fought relentlessly for the unity of this country.

“Afenifere does not believe or support secession, and we owe no apology for being the chief advocate for restructuring Nigeria to Federalism. Let the opponents of restructuring and cohort of the Federal Government stop the blackmail of labeling advocates of restructuring as secessionists.

“When the North led by Saudana of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, wanted to separate in 1953 when it declared the nine-point program of separation, it was our leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo that persuaded the North from so doing as the fears of the North under a unitary form of government will be taken care of under a Federal system. This action gave Chief Awolowo the pseudonym Father of Federalism in Nigeria,” he said.

Afenifere, therefore, proposed that ethnic nationalities and peoples of Nigeria be allowed to exercise their mandate and sovereignty on how they want to live together under mutually beneficial terms.

It also proposed a template that would encourage – every ethnic nationality to organize themselves and prepare terms that would guide their relationship with other ethnic nationalities in the country in a harmonious and mutually respecting manner.

The Constitution, be it at the Regional or National level, must accord unqualified respect to democratic norms and the rights of the people to actively participate in matters that have to do with their lives and must also emphasize true federalism in such a way that no region or area would have power to lord it over another region or area.

“It is hereby further proposed that each region furnish 10 per cent of what it generates to the national purse. The region retains 30 per cent; the states take 35 per cent while the local governments take 25 per cent.

“Ethnic nationalities in the country be encouraged to prepare their document on Terms of Engagement between now and December 2021. The documents from the nationalities in which they propose the kind of regional government they want to form be collated and considered between January and March 2022.

“The product of this process should then produce the document that will become the Constitution of the United Regions of Nigeria or the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As stated earlier, the issue of true federalism must be central in every of the Constitution or Article of Engagement so produced.

“A National Referendum can be conducted on the adoption of the final Constitution for the Restructured Nigeria around the middle of 2022. The said Constitution can then become effective from October 01, 2022.

“It is the belief of Afenifere that it will be unrealistic and unpatriotic in our present precarious disintegrating tendencies that Buhari government should contemplate holding any election before the proposed harmonious constitution becomes operative”, he said and added that the country is faced with “critical threats,” capable of engendering another civil war and forceful political break-up.

Indicators of this, the Afenifere National Leader said, could be seen partly, in the scale of banditry going on in the country, in the unprecedented level of kidnapping and destruction of government properties as being witnessed presently in the South East and the strident voices for secession.

He said Afenifere believes the trend can be reversed to prevent Nigeria from falling into the dungeon and perhaps break into pieces that cannot even be sewn together ever again.

“To us, the solution is simple. Change the constitution to a federal system. The creation of states and local government areas in the North was not based on the principle of equity, justice and fair play,” adding that the North is claiming a population that cannot be physically verified.

Also speaking, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Umar Ghali Na’abah observed that the leadership of the country is not serving the people properly.

“We have weak and irresponsible leadership in the country. We need to talk as one Nigeria and not people from the North or from the South”, Na’abah, who is also the chairman of the National Consultative Forum stated.

He said, there are too many things going wrong in the country which call for restructuring, adding that, everybody will suffer if the country bus dismembered.

In his goodwill message, former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani Kayode said, what the country needs now is restructuring to address the many ills in the country.

The former minister, who described the foreign Fulani herdsmen causing havoc in the country as terrorists, lamented that they are allowed unfettered access into the country because of the weak government Nigeria has.

“What they want is to turn the country into a state of war. We must resist it and fight for a peaceful country.

The Ohanenze Ndigbo, represented by the former Governor of Anambra state, Chief Chukwuemeke Ezeife adopted the position of the Afenire and added that the country needs an emergency national conference to use the report of the 2014 conference to come out with a brand new constitution.

He said any amendment to the 1999 constitution will be a waste of time, adding that the Igbo people are solidly behind the rotational presidency.

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

We Have Not Had Water Supply In Months ― Abeokuta Residents

In spite of the huge investment in the water sector by the government and international organizations, water scarcity has grown to become a perennial nightmare for residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.  Nigeria needs brand new constitution  ;  Nigeria needs brand new constitution ;  Nigeria needs brand new constitution  ;  Nigeria needs brand new constitution.