By Dapo Akinrefon

LAGOS – THE Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination, NINAS, yesterday, warned that any attempt to conduct the 2023 general elections with the 1999 Constitution may truncate Nigeria’s peace and lead the country to a failed state.

It warned that nothing will get better in Nigeria under the unitary constitutional order “no matter who gets to power.”

Professor Yusuf Turaki, who spoke at a press conference on behalf of the NINAS Board of Conveners, One Year after the December 16, 2020 Activation of the Joint Multi-Regional Constitutional Force, warned that failure to heed warnings may lead to grave consequences for the country.

Turaki said: “Nothing will get better in Nigeria under this unitary constitutional order no matter who gets to power. 

“Let us also remind ourselves that whether we seek regional autonomy, resource control or outright exit from Nigeria to become an independent sovereign state, the first order of business is the decommissioning and easing out of the 1999 Constitution, then a transitioning Process during which referendums, plebiscites and negotiations for fresh protocols will be undertaken as indicated in the NINAS Five-Point proposition. 

“It is no longer a matter for debate that the source from which the woes and miseries of Nigeria and Nigerians flow is the 1999 Unitary Constitution of Nigeria.

“That the life of the 1999 Constitution is renewed and reinforced once every four years by general elections.

“That only political parties contest elections in Nigeria as declared by the Supreme Court of Nigeria in a governorship election Suit from Rivers State. 

“That all political parties in Nigeria subscribe to the 1999 Constitution and therefore, contest elections under that Constitution. 

“This means that whichever party wins the general elections in Nigeria, the elected candidate must as a prerequisite for assuming office, swear to, and govern by the 1999 Constitution. This further means that after each round of elections, the Constitution and all the debilitating structures and provisions erected by it, remain intact and so also the Woes of Nigeria and Nigerians, getting only worse.  

“From the foregoing, it is clear that whoever genuinely seeks to extinguish the Source of the Woes and Miseries of Nigeria and Nigerians, must find a way to break this set cycle of periodic renewal of the life of the 1999 Constitution by way of elections.”

Besides, he said: “The next round of renewal for the source of our collective misery (that is elections) is in 2023. 

“It is obvious that the action to be taken to end our bondage and misery is to shut down the voyage to any further national elections under the 1999 Constitution which merely renews our bondage.”

“Accordingly, guided by the Five-Point proposition of the NINAS CFM of December 16, 2020, we must now brace up and prevail on the political parties to halt their preparations for the 2023 round of national elections so that the transitioning process can commence instead of wobbling on to another round of national elections in 2023 under the 1999 Constitution as Nigeria could snap without further warning having shown all the vital signs of a failed State.”