Leaders of thoughts under the aegis of the National Consultative Front (NCFront) have said the group is on course towards delivering a new people’s constitution for Nigeria.
Speaking with Daily Trust on Monday, the National Secretary of the NCFront, Veteran Wale Okunniyi, said the committee’s work is on-going and assured that the committee is on course.
- How fighter jet, Boko Haram killed 33 soldiers in Mainok
I won’t allow paid agents drag me to the mud, Pantami fires back
According to him, the sub-committee is expected to come up with the draft by the end of May while a conference would be held where the draft would be discussed.
“They have to organise a national conference on the new constitutional decision.
“There’s a guideline for them to come out with a tentative draft that will be subjected to discussion, dialogue or conference of the Nigerian people and then the main draft or proposal will be ready by October 30,” he said.
He defended the action of the group, saying they have a right to come up with the constitution.
He said, “The people can come together to initiate a dialogue if they see that the current constitution is not working and there’s a need for a new one, power belongs to the Nigerian people, they have the moral right and duty to initiate dialogue since they are not initiating war, it’s their fundamental right.”
Daily Trust reports that eminent personalities led by former House of Representatives Speaker, Ghali Umar Na’Abba and Prof. Pat Utomi, had floated the Constitution Drafting Committee and Coordinating Committee of the People’s Constitutional Dialogue aimed at rescuing Nigeria from the precipice.
They had vowed to launch a mega political movement to serve as an alternative platform ahead of the 2023 elections.
As part of their agenda, they floated the constitution committee co-chaired by Dr. Olisa, Agbakoba (SAN), Dr. Usman Bugaje, Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu, and Rev Fr. (Dr) George Ehusani, with Agbakoba as lead anchor, setting a direction for the work and Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed as secretary of the coordinating committee.
Promoters have to revert to National Assembly – Lawyers
Commenting on the NCFront’s move, a legal luminary, Abenny Mohammed, SAN, said there was nothing illegal with the action of the group, saying the current 1999 Constitution needed to be discarded.
“Everybody has a right to draft a constitution. The one they drafted for us, the 1999 Constitution, who gave them the permission to draft it? It is an imposition by the military. It is not a people-oriented constitution. They forced it down our throat.
“If a group of Nigerians out of their patriotism is spearheading this effort, there is nothing wrong in it,” he said.
According to him, there is nothing sacrosanct about the 1999 Constitution, adding that it should be discarded.
He said this should have been the task of the National Assembly but they have failed in their duty out of their selfish interests.
Also speaking on the issue, Dayo Akinlaja (SAN), however, said the only way to get the constitution amended wholesale or in part is through the existing National Assembly, although nothing forbids a person or group of citizens from advocating for a constitution.
“At the end of such an exercise they would still have to revert to the National Assembly,” he said.
Paul Ananaba (SAN) also said the group would have to submit the draft to their constitution to the Constitution Drafting Committee of the National Assembly.
He added that if the group wanted to get it to the people to vote through a referendum on whether that is what they want as the new constitution, then they would have to request that a law for a referendum be made.
Also reacting, Yusuf Buhari Esq said no individual or group can sit down in the comfort of their homes and draft a constitution which shall have a force of the ground norm of the land.
He, however, said the NCFront can forward their idea to the Constitution Drafting Committee of the National Assembly as the only arm permitted under Section 1(3) with the combined effect of Section 4(5) of the Nigerian Constitution, 1999.
Section 1(3) provides that “If any other law is inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail, and that other law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void.”
Similarly, Section 4(5) provides that “If any Law enacted by the House of Assembly of a State is inconsistent with any law validly made by the National Assembly, the law made by the National Assembly shall prevail, and that other law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void.”
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
