August 9, 2024
Elder statesmen and opinion leaders from across the country, under the aegis of The Patriots, have called on President Bola Tinubu, to commence the process of producing a new Constitution for the country.
The Patriots, led by former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, on Friday met with President Tinubu at the State House, Abuja and blamed the prevailing dislocations noticed with Nigeria’s nationhood on the 1999 Constitution.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting with the President, Chief Anyaoku explained that Nigeria needs a pluralistic constitution to tackle its development and diverse problems.
The former Commonwealth Scribe, observed that countries that have failed to manage their pluralism through a federal constitution have disintegrated citing the examples of Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Sudan.
According to him, those with pluralistic constitutions, such as India and Canada have remained strong.
He said the constituent assembly should be mandated to produce the draft constitution to be subjected to a referendum.
He explained that the referendum will give the new constitution the legitimacy it requires.
Other members of the Patriots who joined Chief Anyaoku were former governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba, ex-Senator Shehu Sani, former Women Affsirs Minister, Paullen Tallen; former governor of Adamawa state, Bonnie Haruna and former Information Minister, Labaran Maku, among others.
Speaking on the #EndBadGovernance protest, the group urged President Tinubu to dialogue with the leaders and also advised that the law enforcement agencies should stop using lethal weapons in the management of the protest to avoid deaths.
