Nigeria Needs To Set A Framework For Peace – Agbakoba

Human rights lawyer and former President, Nigerian Bar Association, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, Wednesday, said the time is ripe for the country to set out a framework to address broad issues concerning Nigeria.

Agbakoba, who spoke at a press conference in Lagos tagged “Setting a new Agenda for the President-elect on National Order, Constitutional Reform, Devolution of Powers, Anti-corruption, Diversification of the Economy, Driving new Public Revenue, Maritime, Space, Aviation and some other issues,” said president-elect Muhammadu  Buhari must live up to the trust Nigerians reposed on him.

The former NBA President said unless Buhari tackles the problem of insecurity and gather the political will to slash the remunerations of the two chambers of the National Assembly, as well as the executive arm, the country will not progress.

“If you don’t set the framework for order, we are going nowhere. Think of a man who has four wives and many children, if he has not sorted out the peace and stability and how he provides for his home, even though he is a billionaire, he won’t have peace.

“Nigeria’s problems is not its economic resources or its finances, but our problem is lack of peace.

“That is Nigeria’s big problem. This lack of peace has a history in the shape of three political constitutions we have operated.

“The colonial constitutions, which was not in the interests of Nigeria. The civil constitution that lasted between 1960 to 1966 didn’t serve the interests of Nigerians. The military constitutions were designed to enable the various heads of state we had from Gen. Yakubu Gowon to Gen. Sanni Abacha. They didn’t have the interests of Nigerians at heart. They were ruling for the sake of themselves and their constituencies.

“Therefore, there wasn’t any peace and that was why the pro-democracy movement rose to challenge and confront them. Then, we have had the Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan’s attempt to find peace in Nigeria.

“Attempts to bring peace and stability to Nigeria were through the constitutional conferences of Obasanjo, who had a third term agenda and the Jonathan process which I was a party to and was incomplete. As I speak to you, we don’t have any political compass for Nigeria. So, we are a mass of people with various cleavages and fault lines- religious, ethnic, linguistic, roaming in the vast territorial space called Nigeria. This, Chief Obafemi Awolowo referred to as a geographical expression,” Agbakoba said.