Nigeria risks decline without new constitution, Attah warns

A former governor of Akwa Ibom State and member of The Patriots, Victor Attah, has warned that President Bola Tinubu risks leaving Nigeria in a worse state if he exits office without ensuring the country gets a new constitution.

Attah, who described the 1999 Constitution as fundamentally flawed and unsuitable for a diverse nation like Nigeria, called for an entirely new, people-driven constitution to replace what he termed a “unitary system masquerading as federalism.”

He spoke ahead of a planned national political summit on the future of Nigeria’s constitutional democracy, scheduled to be held from July 15 to 17 in Abuja, under the leadership of former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku.

According to Attah, Tinubu was in the best position to champion constitutional reform, having personally experienced what he called the “excesses” of the current system during his time as governor of Lagos State.

Attah said, “This particular President is in the best position to do it because he suffered the consequences of the type of thing that this Constitution allows to happen. His local government money was seized unconstitutionally.

“So he is really in the best position to do it, and I’m hoping that he will do it because if he doesn’t do it, he would have left a worse Nigeria than he met.”

He insisted that any attempt to amend the 1999 Constitution would be futile, arguing instead for a comprehensive rewrite.

“We cannot amend what is so fundamentally bad. We need a completely new constitution,” he said.

He urged the National Assembly to pass a bill that would enable the Patriots and other civic groups to convene a sovereign national conference with representation from all ethnic nationalities and socio-cultural groups across the country.

“That conference will have the sovereign right to sit down and prepare a proper constitution… so that it is a Nigerian Constitution. The ‘We’ in the present constitution is just a blatant lie,” he said.

According to the former governor, the current constitutional structure heavily concentrates power in the hands of the Federal Government, citing the Second Schedule of the 1999 Constitution, where out of 96 items, 63 are on the Exclusive Legislative List.

“It is just handing a whole country like Nigeria to one person to administer. It cannot work,” he said.

“Today, people are shouting for the state police. We cannot say this is necessary today, and another thing tomorrow. Let us do a comprehensive rewrite of this constitution that will bring in certain safeguards that don’t exist in the present Constitution,” he said.

Source: Punch