This Constitution Amendment Is A Sham! By Garba Shehu

It gives me no pleasure coming to
terms with glaring facts that the on-
going attempt to amend or change
the subsisting constitution of Nigeria
has degenerated into a plot to
preserve the privileges enjoyed by a
few, or divide Nigeria using political
chicaneries.
An opportunity for massive
amendments and legislations for
fulfilling the wishes of the citizens is
thus being sacrificed on the altar of
selfishness and greed. Instead, it has
become one big opportunity to settle
long-standing scores between the
North, East, the West and the South-
south. Senator Ekwerenmadu who
leads the entire amendments
process, the hub of which is the
National Assembly, manifests a
tendency of aligning with the South-
Eastern agenda. At all cost, the East
wants one more state to rival the
South-South and the South-West
which parade six states each.
But the country’s President Dr.
Jonathan Goodluck was the first to
foul up the waters by raising an early
hand for an extended term of office,
whether six or seven years, different
from the current position which
allows two four-year terms.
The President of the Senate, General
David Mark parades himself as the
“pride of the Idoma”- instead of
pride of Nigeria which I think he
richly deserves considering his
contributions to national stability – a
title and insignia he displays on
branded Mont Blanc pens issued to
visitors to the Senate President. His
own people, the Idomas want a state,
Apa State at any cost, to liberate
themselves from the dominance of
the Tivs in Benue State. For them,
there is no better opportunity to gain
this than now, when their son
presides at the Senate.
I read the resolutions of the
Northern Governors on the proposed
amendments and they seemed to
stand against whatever the South say
they want. They spoke for their
people on a majority of issues –
revenue allocation, derivation, state
police etc. My problem with them is
that they seemed struck to 19
century idea of the Republic and fail
to see the momentum centripetal
forces have gathered thus far. This
country will either break into pieces
or at best remain a weakened
Federation. Things will not remain as
they are in the long run.
The Governors seemed totally
uninterested in addressing the other
saliencies on the public’s mind, such
as the issue of their increasing
powers vis-à-vis the lack of
accountability to the general public.
Governors are like emperors
nowadays who carry on as if they
own our rights and liberties. It is this
failure to make them accountable
that makes them to give a short shrift
to our priorities such as education,
security and health. If Governors in
the North are doing their work as
they should, would there have
been Boko Haram?nWould there have
been rampant cases of robbery and
kidnapping in the South?
Unfortunately, this scramble for
personal and political advantage has
given rise to a process that is at best,
clouded and unresponsive to the
aspirations of the general public. As a
result, there are a thousand
problems lying underneath that
nobody wants to talk about.
This country’s judicial infrastructure
is in shambles. The lower levels of
the courts system have so
deteriorated that it is hard, if not
impossible for the poor and the
illiterate to get judicial remedies for
wrongs done to them. They are often
victims of greedy law officials. The
higher levels of the judiciary are, in
the view of many compromizable and
unproductive. Now, Nigerians look to
U.K. courts for any high-profile
convictions and the return of stolen
wealth.
In Nigeria, justice to the poorest is
the biggest challenge because here,
the rule is “Might is Right”. Truth is,
the richer you are, the more likely
you can get or escape justice. The
criminal justice system has virtually
become a vehicle for the miscarriage
of justice.
How about cyber-crimes for which
Nigerians are gaining world-wide
notoriety? Is anyone concerned about
all that? How many times have you
been forced to pay bribes or to pay
for service that is well below par? If
constitution amendment is not about
these, what is it for?
Electoral reforms have remained a
wishful thinking and key issues in
that regard are still outstanding.
Under the present conditions, even
hard core criminals can contest and
win elections. How can they make
good laws for the country?The best investment for any country
is in human development. In that
respect, our very high young
population warrants a system in
which investment in human
development is compulsory. Nigeria
indeed has a long way to go in the
coming decades. It is the coming
generations, not this one that will
take Nigeria forward. In line with
this, changes in law and the
constitution must aim at boosting
education infrastructure to fuel the
aspiration of the youths. The youths
need to understand the country’s
problems and come forward to
rectify them.
It is up to those leaders at the centre
and the states to follow the principles
of good governance to save Nigeria
from further decay or we just take it
easy and surrender ourselves to their
common desires of becoming rich
and powerful.
The new laws that the country needs
must ensure that religion, language,
region and ill-gotten wealth are not
used to divide Nigeria. Corruption
must be dealt with; to be reduced it
to zero or somewhere near that
otherwise no system or constitution
can improve Nigeria.
Can this democracy thrive on the
culture of selfishness and greed by
leaders? Constitutional amendments
are designed to promote the larger
good of society. In our own case,
public interest is almost always
superseded by private political
ambitions. In 2006, important
constitutional amendments died on
account of Obasanjo’s obsession to
rule perpetually.
Can we or should we continue like
that? When legislators and leaders at
other levels manipulate the
constitution for selfish gains, do you
expect the citizens to trust their
leaders, let alone be convinced that
those they “elected” are working in
their best interest? As brilliantly
argued by a former Minister of
Justice in the Second Republic, Chief
Richard Akinjide, the problem of our
democracy has nothing to do with
whether we are operating a
presidential, parliamentary,
unicameral or bicameral systems. He
said the character of the people
being elected is largely the drag on
our democracy.

#CONSENSUS 2015