Posted by Vanguard (Lagos) on
There is at least one thing most Nigerians agreed upon: The 1999 Constitution which was a creation of a military clique requires an amendment which for all time will make Nigeria a workable and enduring federation.
There is at least one thing most Nigerians agreed upon: The 1999 Constitution which was a creation of a military clique requires an amendment which for all time will make Nigeria a workable and enduring federation. That was why the civil society groups and many other stakeholders have supported several government efforts and proposed critical suggestions for a federal constitution. Looking back, many who have made worthy sacrifices to bring the nation back to the path of democratic rule can only shudder at the Mantu Committee proposal to the National Assembly which has more than focused on extension of tenure for political office holders, at the expense of fundamental restructuring of Nigeria for a more equitable federation.
Nigeria appears to be on the drift just because of the proposed extension of tenure. If anything, the rough tactics adopted during the Mantu Committee assignment has finally sent the signal that the proposed (objectionable portions) amendments to the Constitution would go on, no matter what people feel about them.
Many Nigerians are aware of the fact that those opposed to the alleged extension of the term of current office holders were shut out of the public hearing. A nebulous court order asking the Mantu Committee to halt its proceedings was observed in breach while Justice Goodluck Olasumbo the next day denied giving an order. The security details of the Deputy Senate President simply drove away the bailiffs who tried to serve the confusing court instruction. Justice Olasumbo said what she gave was declarative order that : "Both counsel are reminded that this suit is now subjudice. Accordingly they are enjoined to advise parties therein on the need to preserve the res (subject matter) in the case," a side comment. The matter in question is a suit that Godwin Daboh, a PDP chieftain, filed against the illegal procedure being adopted to amend the 1999 Constitution, especially the alleged plot to give twelve years to executive office holders.
President Olusegun Obasanjo known for keeping his words as he did in 1979 when he returned the army to the barracks and mid-wifed a democratic rule has not helped matters in this instance. His response to the alleged plot for extended stay in office has been that he will not observe in breach the 1999 Constitution which limits him to two terms of four years each. What he has failed to make a categorical statement upon is the fact that Mantu proposal will offer him another twelve years in office, bringing his rule to twenty years in office - if all the noise, provocation and dreams of apostles of tenure extension is of any consequence.
Perhaps, it was high time the President, not only firmly declared himself ineligible for further stay in office after May 29, 2007, but also realised that twelve years proposition is a dangerously long period for those opposed to his reform programmes to firmly undo all he may have achieved since 1999 - if and when they succeed him.
We have cause to worry about the attitudes of the governors who have suddenly become campaign managers for extension of tenure, we worry about the utterances of the likes of Senator Ahmadu Ali, Chairman of the PDP who claims that he knows the best leaders for Nigerians and he would recruit them, his own way, all to justify the extension of term. He told a newspaper earlier in the year: "We have to bring in people whose track record we already know or do you want us to bring back people who we already know what they did in this country when they ruled? We are suffering from bad leadership, this man we identified before for good leadership, he has come back and we have seen evidence of good leadership again, do you just change a gown when it is not dirty?" Ali's degrading comparison of matters that hinge on the sustenance of Nigeria to a change of gown says a lot about how important the opinion of Nigerians matter in their future. Is it not dirty to change the Constitution for the benefit of office holders?
We hold that it is up to the National Assembly and the various State Houses of Assembly to stop the decimation of the Constitution for the benefit of a few, who are using the advantage of office to abuse the confidence that the people reposed in them at the polls.
We align with the likes of General Yakubu Gowon, former military Head of State who counseled: "We have to avoid the tendency of leadership prolonging itself. My experience, that of Generals Babangida and Abacha should be a good lesson for all leadership in Nigeria today and tomorrow." Voices like his could be lost in the swirling pitch of continuity for reforms.
Nigerians deserve a constitutional review which is a product of consensus, a constitutional review that will support all to build a nation where no one is oppressed, where justice and equity reign.