Constitution amendment must not be taken as jamboree, says Akeredolu

As the process of constitution amendment is ongoing in the country, the Ondo State Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, on Wednesday said it would be better for the country to adopt the 1963 Constitution, which he said contained the principles of true federalism.

The governor, who berated the current 1999 Constitution, noted that the constitution was improper and needed to have been changed before this time.

Akeredolu stated this in his remarks at the opening of the zonal public hearing on the proposed alteration in the provision of the constitution, held in Akure, the state capital.

According to the governor, there was a need to correct the fundamental mistakes that had been made in the past on the existence of the country. He warned that the ongoing process of amendment of the 1999 Constitution must not be taken frivolously.

He said, “The current attempt at constitution amendment should be taken beyond the usual jamboree conceived and executed to arrive at the predetermined result. This country has been experiencing constitution review since 1922 when the colonialists pretended to give a semblance of representation in our affairs.

“The 1946 Richard’s Constitution followed due to agitations of the people who clamoured for more representation. The Macpherson’s of 1951 and Lyttleton’s of 1954 followed the same pattern. The 1958 Conference held in London gave provenance to the Independence Constitution of 1960. The 1963 Constitution retained Regionalism and upheld the principle of autochthony, an organic development of the law using local experiences.

“The republican status of the country was reflected. Each Region had considerable latitude to blossom at her own pace. There was devolution of powers in the true sense of the term. This was the period when even outsiders noticed the potential greatness of the nascent post-colonial country. The major provisions which allowed the three regions which existed before independence were retained in the 1963 Constitution. That remains the best document for a country as heterogeneous as Nigeria.

“It was the best practicable guide towards nationhood. Unfortunately, the military coup of 1966 destroyed that when it abolished regionalism and created the so-called provinces while imposing a unitary system on the country.”

He specifically warned that the exercise must not toe the path of the previous attempts at “tokenism,” saying “the basic law of any country must not be reduced to frivolities reflecting preferred whimsies.”

“It must not be oppressive of the minorities. Its provisions must indeed give teeth to the primary purpose for which the government exists. No provision of the law must not be justiciable as Chapter Two of the current 1999 Constitution seeks to impress on us. All the agitations of the peoples of this country must be looked into with a view to improving the economic power of the average citizens. The best way possible is to allow each region flower in its areas of comparative advantage” the governor implored.

In his own remarks, the Chairman, the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, explained that the ongoing review provides a platform for the people of Nigeria to express their opinions on the “fundamental law that governs our lives through proposals that will lead to the highest good for the greatest number of our people.”

Represented at the hearing by the senator representing Ondo North Senatorial District, Prof. Ajayi Boroffice, the chairman said, “No doubt, we are going to have diverse and differing views on the different themes of the exercise. However, the focus for this Committee is how to manage the review exercise in a fair, inclusive, credible, and transparent manner.”

Memoranda were submitted at the public hearing by the representatives of different groups from Ondo, Ekiti, and Osun states.

Some of the areas in the constitution they wanted to be reviewed included, power devolution, state police, gender equality, residency, local government, legislative and judiciary autonomy among others.