A former president of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Wole Olanipekun, on Monday, asked the National Assembly to “stay action” on the ongoing amendment to the Nigerian Constitution, citing the need for a brand new people’s constitution as his reason.
Mr Olanipekun said this in his lecture at the 13th convocation ceremony of the Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Ekiti State.
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The lecture was titled ‘Nigeria – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: Imperative of a Sober And Definitive Recalibration’.
The Senate and the House of the Representatives are currently in the process of amending the 1999 Constitution, which may end in December ahead of the 2027 general election.
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Two weeks ago, the House Committee on Constitution Review met with the leadership of the 18 registered political parties to take their suggestions on the exercise.
However, Mr Olanipekun, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Chancellor of the Ekiti State-owned Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology, said rather than a mere amendment exercise which may not achieve the desired results, the Constitution needs a completely new rebranding, overhaul and substitution, altogether.
“Call it autochthonous Constitution, or any other name, it has to be a renegotiated document that will pave the way for a new social order. We can not continue to live by the 1999 Constitution, which haunts us as a military albatross.
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“Let us borrow a golden leaf from other countries of the world and determine to live together, on appreciable terms and conditions,” he said.
According to him, “By suggesting to the National Assembly to stay action on any constitutional amendment for now, one is not advocating a state of anomie, or normlessness. Rather, I am proposing a transition period, of between now and 2031, a phase that will give us sufficient time, to reflect on the ills, plaguing or that have plagued our previous constitutions to date.”
Call for referendum, national security
Mr Olanipekun, who is the Pro-Chancellor and chairperson of the Governing Council of the University of Lagos, declared that a national referendum has become inevitable and overdue.
He regretted that as a nation, Nigeria, in the last years, had been enmeshed in the crisis of lopsided opportunities and shared prospects among the regions, especially regarding unequal local government distribution across the regions.
“I wish to submit that in the circumstance of my earlier recommendations, i wish to submit that a referendum has become overdue.
“Over the centuries, such had been deployed to determine issues, as fundamental as independence, territorial belonging, constitutional reordering, and the recalibration of political unions, it represents the voice of the Dena’s, I mean unfiltered and undiluted, speaking louder than the usual rhetorics of politicians, or the manoeuvers of the elites,” he said.
On the issue of national security, the former chairman of the Body of Benchers, said without prejudice to his submission that the National Assembly should stay action on the amendment to 1999 Constitution, state, community, provincial and zonal police formations should be established now, and without delay.
Fidelity to party ideology
He acknowledged the role played by President Bola Tinubu to prevent a one-party state despite pressures from the then ruling party to make him reconsider his principled determination to remain in opposition.
He praised the president’s resilience during his years in the opposition, noting that his steadfastness against the then-ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) preserved Nigeria’s multiparty democracy.
“Had Tinubu succumbed to harassment and intimidation, Nigeria might have become a one-party state long ago,” he said, recalling his own role as Tinubu’s lead counsel during his trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal in 2011.
Mr Olanipekun urged politicians to embrace fidelity to party ideology and warned against cross-carpeting from one political party to the other, saying it undermines democratic growth.
Nigeria’s federal structure
The legal luminary further advocated a reconfiguration of Nigeria’s federal structure through the geopolitical zones, which he said should be empowered to drive the country’s renaissance and recalibration.
He noted that the six-zone arrangement, introduced under the late Head of State Sani Abacha, has now gained practical expression under President Tinubu through creation of regional development commissions.
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Mr Olanipekun maintained that it is the federating units, not the federal government, that should determine the structure and governance framework of the nation.
“It is the states that give birth to the centre, not the other way round,” he said. “Nigeria needs healing, reconciliation, and rebirth and it is through the engagement of the zones that this renaissance can begin.”
Also speaking, ABUAD proprietor, Afe Babalola, urged President Tinubu, the two chambers of the National Assembly and NBA to urgently consider Mr Olanipekun’s submissions and act on them for the sake of the country.
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