Politicians Want Speedy Constitution Review

Some politicians in Lagos have urged the National Assembly
to respect the peoples’ wishes by fast-tracking the amendment of the 1999
Constitution.

The politicians told newsmen in separate interviews that the
review of the 1999 Constitution was too slow.

It will be recalled that the Committee on the Review of the
1999 Constitution had set a July 2013 deadline for the conclusion of the
exercise.

Prof. Oluremi Sonaiya, the National Public Relations Officer
(NPRO) of the KOWA Party, urged the National Assembly to take the wishes of
Nigerians more seriously.

‘’Things move too slowly here, and that is not the way
business should be conducted in the 21st century.

‘’ Let the National Assembly work speedily on the new
constitution, taking the peoples’ expressed wishes seriously, not just the
position of a few who think they have more rights than others,’’ the KOWA
official said.

Sonaiya said the issue of true federalism should be given
priority, to reduce the excessive powers of the central government, and give
much of it to the states or the regions.

Mr Unimke Nawa, a chieftain of the Progressive Peoples
Alliance (PPA), urged the committee to urgently review the constitution.

‘’The 1999 Constitution still has some grey areas needing
urgent attention.

‘’The Local Government administration, for instance, is left
at the whims and caprices of the governor and the state House of Assembly.

“We need to grant autonomy to this arm of government, which
is closest to the people,’’ Nawa said.

The party chief said the review of the constitution should
be resolved finally at the moment.

‘’ Other areas such as demands for the creation of more states
and pre-election questions also have to be clearly spelt out in the
Constitution as soon as possible,” the PPA official said.

Mr Damian Ogbonna, National Chairman of the Peoples
Progressive Party (PPP), said what Nigerians required was a new constitution
and not a review.

‘’Our preferred position is to have a new constitution
because this amendment does not actually address the issue, because the current
constitution is fundamentally flawed.

‘’If we keep amending a flawed constitution, we are going nowhere,
and the country will not be able to move forward,’’ he said.

Ogbonna said there was need for the national assembly to
organise a constitutional conference, where the people could build a
constitution for themselves.

Alhaji Yahaya Ndu, National Chairman of African Renaissance
Party (ARP), said that amending the constitution would not serve any useful
purpose.

“It is clear that the National Assembly members are not
“loyal” to Nigeria.

“If they are, they would have long abandoned the
constitution amendment and compelled the immediate convocation of a national
conference, to fashion out a new peoples’ constitution,” Ndu said.