By Emmanuel Ndukuba, Awka
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Ben Uzuegbu, has lent his voice to the call for a new constitution in the country for true federalism in order to address the imbalances and challenges in the polity.
Uzuegbu told Persecondnews correspondent on Sunday in Onitsha, Anambra State, that the current 1999 Constitution does not adequately address the diverse interests of Nigeria’s multi-ethnic population.
Chief Emeka Anyaoku, one-time Secretary General of the Commonwealth, recently led some well-meaning Nigerians under the aegis of the Patriots on a visit to President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, where he demanded the convening of a Constituent Assembly and a new constitution for the country.
Uzuegbu said: “We want a constitution that will not be a pretender because what we are using now says ‘we’ the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“You and I know that we don’t have any input in the 1999 Constitution. The constitution we are using today is Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar’s constitution, not the Constitution of Nigeria.
“It is a military constitution, so the people ought to go into a Constituent Assembly, constituent units, and map out a road map by which every section of the country will know how to move, like it was done immediately after independence when we had three regions.
“True federalism is what we needed so that everybody would start working hard. The issue is that at the end of the month, the governors, now local government chairmen with the recent Supreme Court judgement, just go to Abuja and sleep in a hotel.
“They are given their money; they will change it into foreign currencies, buy houses overseas, come back home, and start sleeping again.
“When it is towards the end of the month, again, they will begin to go to Abuja; this will take us nowhere.”
The lawyer emphasized that Nigeria urgently requires a new constitution that will work for the country.
“In that new constitution, they will entrench the cost of governance that will be drastically reduced; politics will no longer be a business; politics will be for service.
“Today, the most prosperous industry in Nigeria is politics. You can see lawyers and academic professors doing very well in their chosen careers and wanting to become local government chairmen.
“What are they doing there? Is it not because of money in that place, but this thing ought to be to serve, like you have actually done well in your vocation and your people called you to come and serve them politically?” Uzuegbu stated.
He, therefore, called on the Bola Tinubu administration to sponsor an executive bill to the National Assembly to create a Constituent Assembly that would give the country a new constitution as a critical step towards addressing the country’s challenges, arguing that a new constitution is necessary to restructure the country and provide a foundation for better governance.
He said a new constitution would reduce the cost of governance and curb the high levels of corruption among politicians and citizens alike.
He, however, noted that before any constitutional changes are made, the government must first address the pressing issue of fuel subsidy removal by lowering fuel prices to ease the burden on Nigerians.
Reflecting on the recent #EndBadGovernance protests, Uzuegbu criticized what he called the federal government’s efforts to suppress the demonstrations.
He asserted that the rights to freedom of assembly and movement are fundamental and inalienable and that citizens have the right to express their dissatisfaction with government actions.
“Human beings are born with the right to voice their opinions. If they don’t like something, they can come together, carry placards, and say, ‘We don’t like this. Government, what you are doing is wrong. This is what we want,’” Uzuegbu stated.
He further observed that, despite the government’s attempts to disrupt the protests, the demonstrators have made their voices heard loud and clear.
“The President has acknowledged the protesters’ grievances in a broadcast, saying, ‘I have heard you.’ However, the real challenge lies in the implementation of the demands. Whether the government will fulfil the protesters’ demands remains uncertain.
“Nonetheless, the protesters have successfully registered their discontent, and the world has noted that Nigerian leaders are not meeting the expectations of the people,” Uzuegbu added.
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