Urgently demands “a people’s constitution”

Says No to Nigeria being governed as Unitary state

By Adeola Badru – Ibadan

The Yoruba Council of Elders, YCE, Monday, said emphasis must now be placed more on getting a people’s constitution for Nigeria, as the socio-cultural group maintained that, restructuring alone could not effectively tackle the country’s problems.

The Secretary-General of YCE, Dr. Kunle Olajide, gave the opinion, in a chat with Vanguard, on the state of affairs in the country.

He noted that the time has come for the various ethnic groups in the country to have a round table talk on how to live together.

READ ALSO: Why FG should leave Sunday Igboho alone – YCE

Olajide said: “They should get a new constitution for this country. It’s not anything difficult. We are in a democracy. Let the executive send bills to the national assembly for imputing referendum into our constitution. Referendum is not in the constitution we are operating.”

“There should be a referendum in any democratic dispensation. They should establish constituents assembly commission. We cannot run Nigeria as a Unitary system. Reforming a country is a process, you cannot decree a nation into existence.”

“Restructuring cannot effectively tackle Nigeria’s problem. Restructuring is one of the byproducts of a new constitution. The power in the exclusive list should not be more than twenty. In the 1963 constitution, we had sixteen items on exclusive federal list.”

“Emphasis must be placed more on getting a people’s constitution. This is an heterogeneous country. We are made up different people with different history, different backgrounds, different cultures and different priorities.”

“Therefore, we must sit down together. We have several nations in Nigeria. We have Yoruba nation, we have Igbo nation, Fulani nation, Hausa nation, Kanuri nation, Ijaw nation and so on with different priorities. Let us sit down and agree on how to live together.”

“I am not particularly happy with the happenings in this country. We started this dispensation in 1999 and it appears as if we take three steps forward and take about ten backwards.”

“In my humble opinion, the simple reason is that we were not part of writing the constitution we are operating. If you recall, there are a number of contradictions even in the constitution that we are running.”

“President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was the pioneer of this democratic dispensation did not see the constitution until the day of swearing in. He did not even have the faintest idea of what the office he was seeking entails.”

“The land belongs to the state, the minerals on the land belong to the Federal Government. Virtually, everything is controlled from the centre. The states are not even empowered to explore and exploit their resources and deploy them according to their own priorities.”

“They go cap in hand every month to Abuja for allocation and about 85 percent of the revenue of the country is from oil and gas which is dangerous for the country’s economy. The prices of these products are controlled from abroad, whereas we have enough land for the agriculture.”

While speaking on the centralised security system in the country, Dr. Olajide observed that there was no federation in the world that has a centralised security system, pointing out that governors who are usually regarded as the Chief Security Officers in their respective states are not constitutionally empowered to give orders to the commissioner of police in their states.

He recalled that the series of security breeches in the country were byproducts of centralised security system, adding that the breeches were responsible in no mean measure the banditry currently bedeviling Nigeria.

Olajide, then, stressed the need for the creation of state police, since the country has state legislatures that also make laws.

“Banditry and other forms of security breeches are byproducts of the centralised security system in the country. There is no federation that I know in the world that has a centralised security system.”

“The police is controlled from Abuja. The Governor is the Chief Security Officer in the state. If he gives instructions to the commissioner of police, the commissioner of police will have to wait for the Inspector-General of police who will have to tell the Attorney-General first.”

“The policing system must be decentralised. There must be state police to police the state laws, because we have state legislatures that make laws. So, they must have their own state police to police their laws. The federal police will arrest people who commit crimes against the Federal Government. That is how a true federation is run.”

“Without attempting to sing anybody’s praise, Chief Obafemi Awolowo prioritised education in the western region, whereas our revered leader in the north, Ahmadu Bello prioritised military, drafting young people into military.”

“So, large proportion of the out-of-school children in the northern part of this country are not less than ten million, then the moment they become teenagers, they start procreating. That is why we are having increasing Banditry therr than here. Education is very compulsory,” Olajide observed.

Vanguard News Nigeria