Afe Babalola, founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti,
says politicians are benefiting from the “flaws” in the 1999 constitution.
In an interview with TheSun, Babalola said because they are
beneficiaries of the constitution, they would not be able to make proper
amendments where necessary.
The 1999 constitution was drawn under the supervision of the
military, and some of its contents were part of the draft constitution prepared
under Sani Abacha, the late head of state.
The senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) explained that the calls for the amendment of the constitution were not necessary, adding that what was needed was a sovereign national conference to produce a new constitution that would benefit the ordinary people.
“The only way out is not an amendment to the flawed
constitution but a new people’s constitution through a sovereign national
conference,” he said.
“The politicians who are in government, in the national
assembly, and who are benefiting from the flawed constitution can never make
any good and proper constitution for this country and no amendment can ever do
so.
“In 1965, we had a house of assembly and the senate. Nobody
earned salaries then; what they earned was sitting allowance.
“Look at the house of assembly, senate. Now, hardly will you
find 50 people there in a day and they earn salaries. They even talked about
pension. So, there is no way you can amend the constitution. They will make
sure that they remain earning these billions of naira. We are the only country
where people earn billions.”
According to him, the 1999 constitution was drafted to allow
the “military to perpetuate themselves in power”.
“For example, Awolowo paid 55 percent of the revenue on
education, knowing the importance of education. People saw themselves as
Nigerians then. Unfortunately, the military came in 1966, jettisoned the
constitution and ruled by decrees. When they were going away in 1999, they did
not return us to the constitution which they suspended and then they brought
their own constitution and presented it as constitution made by Nigerians. That
was a lie; even right from the face of it, it was a lie,” Babalola said.
“Actually, the constitution they made was done in such a way
that it will allow the military to perpetuate themselves in power, and that is
why you find, all the time, those who are in the military were coming back in
one form or the other. We have never had good government ever since.”
The lawyer said the only way Nigeria could get it right with
its constitution is by calling for a “sovereign national conference”.
“The meaning of that is that whatever they decide will not
be subject to amendments by these people,” he said.
“I have participated in many conferences and at the end of
the day what comes out of it? They want to spend another N2 billion for
amendment; what are you amending?”
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com