A legal icon and founder of Afe Babalola University, Chief Afe Babalola, has described as a mere wasting of time and dissipation of energy, the constitutional review being proposed by the National Assembly to correct some imbalances in the country’s legal book .
Babalola averred that the truth has always been that there was no way the National Assembly could amend the 1999 constitution to cure the inherent defects, if the fraud in the system is not first got rid of.
Rather than constitutional review, Babalola, said the National Assembly could have called for a National Conference where issues bedeviling the nation can be identified, discussed and resolved through a roundtable.
Babalola said these in a statement in Ado Ekiti yesterday, where he espoused his views on the proposed constitutional review by the National Assembly.
He stated that he quite appreciated the fact that the constitution in practice was defective and needed to be reworked, having been bequeathed to the people by the military.
“Against the background of the massive demand by Nigerians, home and abroad, for a true federal constitution made by the people and for the people, the National Assembly is calling for public hearings in the country’s six geo-political zones for people’s inputs on any issue of interest to enable the National Assembly to amend the 1999 constitution.
“It is common knowledge that the 1999 Constitution was made by the military, which in its wisdom claimed that it was made by the people.
“Secondly, it is impossible, by way of amendment, to take away the military system of government under the 1999 Constitution or the power and control of public funds by the President. Or can we, by way of amendment, change the judicial powers of the President under the 1999 Constitution?
“The root cause of our problems, which have brought Nigeria to the brink of extinction, is the 1999 Constitution foisted on it by the military when it was exiting the reign of governance in 1999.
“The fact remains that you cannot amend a Coconut tree, which has no branches to become an Iroko tree which has branches. It is a well-known fact that everything about the 1999 constitution is wound round the presidential system of government.
“Why then is the National Assembly afraid of calling a National Constitutional Conference to fashion out a new true federal constitution and come up with a parliamentary system of government like we had in 1963?
“Alternatively, since amendment in law includes substitution for an existing document, why is it that the National Assembly cannot call for a public hearing on the substitution of the 1999 constitution for the 1963 constitution which was made with the consent of the people?.
“The proposed amendment to the 1999 constitution, whichever way you look at it, is a futile exercise. We all know that previous sessions of National Assembly had made laws to convene National Conference.
“I therefore advise that the current National Assembly should call for a National Conference to discuss and make a new true federal constitution which will provide for a Parliamentary system of government”
