The need for constitutional amendment

The planned constitutional review by the present administration commenced with the moving of a motion for same by the Senate Leader, Senator Teslim Folarin, on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday,April 16,2008.

From the speeches of the contributors to the motion, it seems the present National Assembly is not beginning today with the broken pieces of yesterday. History is about to be made in our country; this is so because it will be the first constitution that is truly made by civilians. All but the 1963 Republican Constitution have either been handed down by the colonial masters or military juntas.

In the words of Walton Hamilton: “The genius of constitutions, written or unwritten alike, lies in usage”. He goes further to say that all the provisions of a constitution may be printed in capital letters and red ink and yet be flagrantly violated, if the operators or rulers “rule more by passions, emotions, individual wills, and self-interest than by objective reasons and pursuit of generally beneficial common goals.”

In this connection, we need to ask this question: Are we reviewing the whole constitution or part(s) of it? Both require more than the National Assembly’s review committee since we operate a written / rigid constitution. The constitution embodies the fundamental principles governing the whole country; its formation, formal change or amendment should be the job of the representatives of the people of the country constituted into an assembly greater in power and authority than the ordinary legislature which passes ordinary laws. Success depends largely on how we handle our failure.

We should take a retrospective look at the composition of the defunct National Political Reform Committee and its recommendations. The review should not be woven round one individual or an allied selfish group of people. Also, we should expend funds wisely on the project by avoiding another owambe review. National interest should be placed above personal interest. In this regard, bogus demands must not be made neither should unnecessary clauses be added to the new constitution. All strata of the society are enjoined to embrace the amendment for if one is not involved today in creating tomorrow’s markets he is unlikely to find himself competing in them.

Adelani Olawuyi,
Obada (Odo-Oba),
Oyo State.

Obasanjo, a benefactor not a villain

MY lecturer in the University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos in the 70s said, “the problem of history is that nobody learns from history.” Those who now see former President Obasanjo as a villain are those who easily forget the essence of history. This is because they have very short memories. Obasanjo was hurriedly released from jail where he was supposed to have been killed like his compatriot, Shehu Yar’Adua. He was released to salvage, rescue and save Nigeria from an imminent, apparent and visible disintegration following Ibrahim Babangida’s malicious annulment of the 1993 presidential election.

Consequently, we had the satanic hegemony of the ignoble Sani Abacha’s suffocating and ferocious grip on Nigeria. Then, a few courageous Nigerians like Professor Wole Soyinka, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Abraham Adesanya, Gani Fawehinmi and a very few others fought, and we had Radio Kudirat. Most of the loud-mouthed critics of Obasanjo today sneaked to hide in their villages for fear of arrest and death. Our people say, “for a stubborn ulcer, you need a stubborn drug to heal it”. We needed an Obasanjo or his like to bring the Nigerian society that had gone haywire to normalcy if she must survive.
Ex-President Obasanjo ought to be judged by his performance vis- a -vis the task he was expected to accomplish when he came in as civilian president.

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is not a villain but a benefactor, a rescuer and a man who is pathologically patriotic.

Barrister B. A. Ajibode,
5,Ogbovhema Avenue,
Ugboshi-Afe,
Akoko-Edo.