National Conference and the new constitution

There is the argument of the Northern groups that the plot to force a new constitution is President Jonathan’s idea of a third term, an episode that almost brought down Nigeria on its knees in the government of General Obasanjo. What Obasanjo could not achieve is now being perfeceted by Goodluck Jonathan. The tenure elongation […]

There is the argument of the Northern groups that the plot to force a new constitution is President Jonathan’s idea of a third term, an episode that almost brought down Nigeria on its knees in the government of General Obasanjo. What Obasanjo could not achieve is now being perfeceted by Goodluck Jonathan.
The tenure elongation mantra and leaders in Africa is an issue of problematic proportion which will continue to linger for sometime to come, the focus in the piece today is not on tenure elongation or third term or whatever but on the constitutionality of a national meeting called lopsidedly by a president to discuss and advise on issues.
The basis of the national meeting in itself is commendable because it is traditional that people in a federation need to meet regularly and talk about issues in the alliance. The problem with such meetings in Nigeria is that they are often titled to service certain pecuniary interests of leaders possibly against the people and the nation.
Like several other meetings of the past, the last was spectacular because the constitution of the meeting lacked any place in either the laws or constitution. The composition of its membership was tilted towards specific section of the country against the doctrine of representation in a federal society.
The objective of the biased composition was simply to provide the government with the opportunity to emasculate the greater majority of the country by arriving at decisions that would equally be selfish and biased and at the end of the day, all instruments of state are deployed to ensure that the decisions are rammed down the throats of majority Nigeria.
Now that the meeting has met the expectations of those who convoked it and threatens the integrity of Nigeria, I wonder what the next line action would be. If the president and those who handle him would have their way, there wouldn’t have been a National Assembly at sight and all resolutions would become either law or constitutional.
Glory be to God! There is a National Assembly in between and 36 states Houses of Assembly before any such garbage called a constitution is passed into law. The development at the conference now puts the picture clearer as to why Ike Ekwerenmadu wanted to all cost secure and amendment on the constitution that would pave way for the introduction of a new constitution by either the president or any member of National Assembly. Thank God, again that the senate rejected that blunder.
I ask this question, why is President Jonathan so bent on rewriting a constitution? The answer in my humble imagination is that he wishes to restructure Nigeria in favor of his /their perception of what the nation should look like. Far away from what it is and what it should be.
As a student of comparative federalism I have gone through several litterateurs on the area and have a fair understanding of how and what an amalgam of people such as the one that we have should look like. I don’t know why at the slightest opportunity some of those who see through the same lenses with the president should argue that the North is less populated than the south. I don’t have any qualms with that point of view. It is imaginary and not real. It satisfies the caprices of those who desire that so it be.
If as a Professor with my 2 wives and 11 children from rural Kaduna State, somebody would still argue that we cannot multiply just because we are in the arid region, then, I don’t understand what the meaning of knowledge is. In fact the initial argument of the Boko Haram movement bordered around the inefficiency and failures of western education. It has produced thieves who corner commonwealth to their personal uses. It produces people who do not fear God and so they misrule, mismanage and pollute the culture and beliefs of the people.
In Nigeria, in 1979 before the soldiers left, there was a crisis over $1.2 billion oil money. Fela sang about it. In the early 1990s there was another alarm on $2 billion oil money by a committee but in 2013 a bigger allegation came that over $20 billion oil sales were not remitted to the appropriate account and Nigeria is moving as if there is nothing wrong.
When the 1.2 billion bucks, which I used to joke over as a high level student in 1980, came, the Naira was stronger than the Dollar. It was 75 kobo to a dollar. When the 20 billion bucks issues came up it was a dollar to 161 naira. Where are we going?
From the beginning of head counts in Nigeria to the last, the changes that we had were only in numbers and not in the reflection of high and low population. Since colonial period, Kano had been populous, so is Lagos, Oyo, Kaduna and other parts of Nigeria. Why is Goodluck Jonathan and his co travellers thinking that they can over night change the reality with their perceptions and beliefs. They cannot because those before them did try and failed. I am saddened that in the eleventh hour of my life, my nation is confronted with a ruling class that is hell bent of truncating and balkanizing it. I hardly sleep because of this.
General Obasanjo and the ruling elites have done the greatest injustice to this country Nigeria. It will require genuine efforts and hard work to retrace the steps and put Nigeria on the right path. I believe we are way out and the future looks dangerous and hopeless.
If the constitution constructed under Abdulsalam Abubakr is not working, how can the one, Goodluck Jonathan is desperately wanting to bring on board going to work?
Don’t mind a new constitution if it is the wish of Nigerians, but any process bringing it on board must be popular and acceptable to all and sundry and must be transparent and honest as against this desire to change the grand norm just because some people or sections desire to take undue advantage. This is unacceptable and cannot happen.
The conference has over stepped its bound and thus a recipe for untold national crisis.