Those asking for a brand new constitution as against the ongoing process for the amendment of the 1999 Constitution can as well approach the courts to stop its implementation, the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, has declared.
Omo-Agege, yesterday, told representatives of the six South-south states under the auspices of BRADEC United Assembly that only a court ruling could guarantee the framing of a new constitution to replace the current one.
He, therefore, challenged them to approach the court and stop the implementation of the 1999 Constitution. Omo-Agege, who is also the Chairman of the Constitution Review Committee of the Senate, spoke while responding to remarks made by Mr. Mike Ozekhome (SAN), at the just concluded two-day National Public Hearing on the Review of the 1999 Constitution in Abuja.
Ozekhome, in his presentation, urged the Senate Committee to adopt various memoranda submitted during the zonal hearings as the beginning of the process of making a new constitution for the country.
The human rights lawyer’s statement came barely 24 hours after the Deputy President of the Senate had said the National Assembly lacks the powers to set the entire 1999 Constitution aside to birth a new document.
The Senior Advocate agreed that the National Assembly indeed lacks the powers but stated that it could begin the process of bringing about a new constitution for the country.
He said: “1999 Constitution was hurriedly compiled from the Schedules of Decree 4 by the military. The constitution is a unitary document, which over concentrated powers at the centre in a federation.”
Ozekhome likened the 1999 Constitution to “an illegitimate child”, pointing out that no amount of amendments would give it legitimacy.
“You cannot put something on nothing,” he told the panel. He also called for the cutting down of the number of lawmakers in the Senate and that they render their services on part time basis, noting that the load was too much for Nigeria to carry.
In his submission, BRADEC spokesperson and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tom Ikimi, said the group was shocked at remarks that the Nigerian people cannot have a brand new constitution even when it is widely accepted that the 1999 Constitution is seriously flawed.
BRADEC declared support for the views of Southern Governors on restructuring as well as the return to a regional arrangement that would make it possible for the various regions to operate separately and make progress at their own pace.
The group declared support for the establishment of State Police, which it considered as one of the solutions to Nigeria’s mounting security challenge.
Former Head of Service, Yayale Ahmad, who was at the public hearing to lend his voice to calls for the creation of Katagum State, also backed the idea of having a new constitution.
Ahmad said he was not surprised that the issue has come up 22 years after the military handed down the 1999 Constitution without the input of the people.
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