Nigerian lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN) has stated that the country needs a new constitution.
He argued that the 1999
Constitution was military-imposed, and not subject to any referendum.
The human rights lawyer urged
President Bola Tinubu to muster the political will to get the nation a
people-centred constitution.
He stated this during an
appearance on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics show.
Asked whether a new
constitution is an antidote to poverty, insecurity, and other challenges
confronting the Nigerian state, Ozekhome said, “It is. The killings you are
seeing, the poverty, the corruption, they are all symptoms of a larger problem
which is the basis of what we are talking about. When you solve it, other
things will be in place.”
“Nigeria is a country still
yearning for nationhood. We are not united.
“The brand new constitution
must be subjected to the referendum of the people,” he said.
Ozekhome further stated that
the engine (constitution) of the Nigerian state has knocked and should be replaced.
“The political elite has to
agree. If you are driving a car and the car has a knocked engine. Is it not the
engine you should look at? Do you begin to panel-beat the car, spray it with
beautiful paint, and buy new tyres? Will that move the car?
“I am saying that the engine of
the Nigerian state, for now, is knocked and it is giving rise to all these
mutual suspicion, religious intolerance,” he said.
He said economic reforms are
good but must not be put before a people-centred constitution.
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