Eminent lawyers fault NASS on new constitution

[MrVan]

Ikeja- Some eminent lawyers in Lagos on Thursday faulted plans by the National Assembly to write a new constitution for Nigeria, describing the move as illegal and unconstitutional.

The lawyers, Prof. Akin Oyebode, Mrs Funke Adekoya, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Mr Femi Falana, a human rights activist, spoke at the 2012 Annual Chief Alao Aka-Bashorun Lecture in Ikeja.

They insisted that only a Constituent Assembly was empowered to carry out such functions.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the lecture was organised by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja branch, in honour of Aka-Bashorun, a former President of the NBA.

It was entitled "True Federalism as a Panacea for the Sustainability of Democracy in Nigeria''.

Oyebode, a former Vice-Chancellor of University of Ado-Ekiti, who was the guest lecturer, said the 1999 Constitution must be jettisoned because it was illegitimate and dysfunctional.

"The 1999 Constitution has outlived its usefulness because it is a transient document bequeathed on Nigerians by the military.

"It is only Decree 24 masquerading as a constitution because it was written by a few persons and we were not consulted.

"The National Assembly is not a Constituent Assembly and they cannot write a constitution for Nigeria by way of constitutional amendment,'' Oyebode said.

According to him, the job of writing a new constitution belongs to a Constituent Assembly which will set up a drafting committee to work on the new constitution.

Oyebode said the present system of federalism in Nigeria was a paradox, stressing that no meaningful development could be achieved if the states were not given more autonomy and powers.

In his comments, Falana said both the 1979 and 1999 constitutions were a clear reflection of military dictatorship.

"The Senate are only deceiving themselves that they are reviewing the constitution because they don't have the constitutional power to do so''.

Adekoya, on her part, said the country was practising "fake federalism'' by concentrating too much powers in the central government.

"It is a concentration of power at the centre and so it is like running a unitary system with a federal political structure,'' she said.

She noted that the nation's challenges were not caused by the structure of governance but by the absence of genuine democracy.

The lawyers, therefore, called for a Sovereign National Conference to address perceived injustice and imbalance in the country.

The Chairman, Ikeja Branch of the NBA, Mr Adebamigbe Omole, described Aka-Bashorun as a dogged fighter who contributed immensely to the nation's democracy.

He recalled that Aka-Bashorun had as far back as 1991, led the agitation for a Sovereign National Conference due to the heterogeneous nature of Nigeria.

"The various agitations across the country by ethnic nationalities and groups have brought about a question regarding the status of the Nigerian state and the system of government we practice today,'' he said. (NAN)

Vanguard Nigeria