By Josef Omorotionmwan

IS it really necessary to keep reminding ourselves that the moment people no longer know what to do, they begin to do everything and that the loss of one genuine purpose would lead to the pursuit of a dozen pseudo purposes?

Have we also forgotten the case of that small boy who killed a small rat and didn’t have fire to roast it; but meanwhile, the small boy is shouting hoarse and crying bitterly that the other big rat must not be allowed to escape? We have a National Assembly that is thick skinned; one that cherishes dwelling on illegalities, while claiming to be pious and way above board.

Today, we bring to you, a National Assembly that is working hard (or hardly working?) to keep beating its own records, first, of being the only National Assembly in the world to amend more than one hundred sections of its country’s Constitution at a go; thus, forcing us into the innocuous position of having to talk of the first amendments instead of the first amendment to the Constitution. Secondly, our National Assembly is at the verge of becoming the only one in the world to ever reverse itself so rapidly on the issue of constitutional amendment.

Apparently, we are deaf to history. No one will blame us for always returning to the US experience at the least prompting. The Americans did not have the type of advantage that we had. Whereas they started on a clean slate, we had them to copy from.

Not only is a major part of the Nigerian Constitution lifted wholesale from America’s, the entire Chapter IV of our Constitution, dealing with the FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS, is merely a replication of the American Bill of Rights, which encapsulates the first 10 amendments to the American Constitution.

Yet, since 1791, when the American Constitution came into effect, only 14 sections have been altered, in addition to the Bill of Rights, which, in fact, should be considered as part of the original document as their adoption in 1791 was a condition of ratification by states. Since 1791, Congress has had to reverse itself only once on the issue of constitutional amendment.

The eighteenth amendment, prohibiting commerce in intoxicating liquor was ratified in 1919 and it took effect from early 1920. It was repealed by the 21st amendment, which was proposed and ratified in 1933. But what do we find in Nigeria? Just three months ago, we turned our Constitution upside down and inside out, making half-baked amendments in virtually every section of that document. Today, we are in the process of reversing ourselves on many of the amendments of last three months!

Our present circumstance is like backing a man who is backing a goat. Every reasonable voice in this country, including the Federal High Court, has made it abundantly clear that the law on which the National Assembly is basing the ongoing reversal of itself is illegal, to the extent to which it has not been assented to by the President. In the end, they will produce two half measures, both of which shall be illegal. Instead of writing a law, our law-makers are writing themselves into the law.

Yes, this is the age of uncertainty but those who keep doing the same thing the same old way and expecting different results must be disappointed. Their game plan is to keep us in suspense to the point where we would begin to think that the heavens might soon come crumbling down.

After all the rigmarole, the elections will still hold in April 2011, possibly with a fallback on the original 1999 Constitution, after all the pretentious efforts at amendments and re-amendments must have been thwarted; which would mean that most of our current political actors would still smuggle themselves in under the usual system where they would enjoy their stolen mandates far into, and sometimes beyond, the tenure.

Yet, to the citizenry, by far the most relevant of all the recommendations of the Justice Uwais Committee, is that which requires that all electoral cases be concluded before inauguration so that only actual winners would be sworn in.

There must be a way out. We see nothing sacrosanct about the May 29 hand-over date which date, in fact, has no historical significance, whatsoever in the life of this nation. If anything, it was a military contraption, which was foisted on us by the soldiers at the time they were beating a retreat to the barracks, when it was clear that they were no longer wanted by the people.

The date was accepted under emergency provisions, so to say, because it would have been foolhardy to ask the military to stay on till the nation’s traditional birthday, October 1. Essentially, the May 29 hand-over date has remained a source of inconvenience and it has also succeeded in sending the wrong signal that Nigeria is unsure of itself, hence it has two birthdays. The situation before us now provides a clean opportunity for our return to October 1 as our authentic handover date.

This will require some amendment to the Constitution or, as a last resort, we could fall back on the cheap option of the Doctrine of Necessity. In fact, this shortcut will also provide a win-win situation for the current stock of elected officials, particularly the lame ducks, who will collect the bountiful windfall of four full months’ allowances accruing from the arrangement. After all, is that not the type of thing, the path of least resistance, which delights them? So, let it be!