Heed calls for new constitution, Anyaoku tells Tinubu

Former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, has advised President Bola Tinubu to urgently prioritize a new people’s constitution for the country.

He said the president should establish a framework for its implementation.

Anyaoku gave the advice in an interview with newsmen in Lagos.

Persecondnews recalls that the Patriots, a non-partisan coalition of Nigerian thought leaders, previously advocated for the establishment of a national constituent assembly to facilitate the drafting of a new constitution for the nation.

The group, led by Anyaoku, had pressed President Tinubu to promptly submit an executive bill to the National Assembly with the goal of convening a national constituent assembly.

Tinubu assured them that their request would be considered after he had completed his economic reform initiatives.

Anyaoku said: “The 1999 constitution, even as amended, lacks the legitimacy that can only be conferred on a constitution democratically made by the people of Nigeria.

“We must, therefore, have a new legitimate constitution that will give us a different governance system that can tackle more effectively the myriad challenges currently threatening the integrity of our country.

“In my view, the new constitution should be made by a constituent assembly of persons to be democratically elected on a non-political party basis of three each from the existing 36 states and one from the FCT.”

The elder statesman said that discussions on the new constitution should draw on the experiences of the 1960 and 1963 constitutions, as well as the findings of the 2014 national conference.

He suggested that a national referendum should approve the draft constitution that the constituent assembly produced.

He noted that this approach would give the constitution the legitimacy it needs to be considered a truly citizen-driven document.

Anyaoku stated that a new people’s constitution, created through democratic means, would be the first of its kind, tailored to meet the diverse needs of a pluralistic society like Nigeria.

He said: “First, our country, Nigeria, is a pluralistic country—a country of groups of people with diverse cultures, languages, and religions who have lived in their separate geographical areas for generations.

“This was before their man-made amalgamation into one political entity called Nigeria. The country from its inception has, therefore, faced the challenge of how to manage its diversity.

“The second incontestable fact is that, as of today, the Nigerian project under its present constitution is clearly not working.

“Nigerians are today assailed by “high cost of living, crude oil theft, food inflation, insecurity, corruption, and divestments by multinational oil corporations.”