A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), has urged the National Assembly to suspend further amendments to the 1999 Constitution of the country.
The legal luminary said the country required a new homegrown constitution that would genuinely reflect the collective will of Nigerians and their uniqueness instead of another round of patchwork reform.
He said, “The National Assembly should, for the time being, stay action on the ongoing amendment or any further amendment to the 1999 Constitution. This constitution needs a new rebranding, a complete overhaul, a substitution altogether. It has to be a negotiated document that will pave the way for a new social order”.
Olanipekun spoke on Monday while delivering the 13th Convocation Lecture of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, titled “Nigeria yesterday, today and tomorrow: Imperative of a sober and definitive recalibration”.
He argued that the 1999 Constitution, which he described as a “military albatross” imposed on Nigerians, had outlived its usefulness and legitimacy.
The senior advocate said that he had, since the 1999 Constitution was midwifed and became operational under the General Abdulsalami Abubakar military regime, been part of the vanguard advocating a people-oriented constitution that would emerge from public participation and referendum.
Olanipekun recommended a transitional phase between now and 2031 to allow Nigeria to gather, review and harmonise previous constitutional efforts, including the reports of the various conferences and committees on restructuring, ahead of the drafting of a new consensual document.
The legal luminary, who said referendums were not alien to Nigeria’s political evolution, said that sovereignty, as enshrined in Section 14(2)(a) of the existing 1999 Constitution, resided in the people, who therefore had an inalienable right to determine how they wish to be governed.
He advocated a reconfiguration of Nigeria’s federal structure, noting that the states, rather than the Federal Government, should determine the structure and governance framework of the country.
He said, “The fact remains, and this fact stares us in the face, that the states appear to have lost their grip and gravitas on their traditional and constitutional jurisdiction and areas of influence with a federal system.
“Surprisingly, although not unexpectedly, people are still clamouring for the creation of more states. It is submitted that it is not the more the merrier, but that the more states are created, the more weakened the so-called federating units become, and the more imperious the centre.