Members of the National Christian Elders Forum, NCEF, have disagreed over the modalities to be adopted in birthing a new Constitution ahead of another constitutional review by the National Assembly.
The Christian elders, at a consultative meeting held Thursday via zoom, which was convened by NCEF on the new Constitution, could not agree on the modality to be adopted for the exercise.
The meeting was convened to understand the different perspectives in the proposals for a new Constitution before the NCEF with the ethnic nationalities.
The Executive Secretary of Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self Determination, NINAS, Mr Tony Nnadi, said amending the Constitution would not berth equity and stability without suspending certain provisions stipulated by successive military regimes to foist a unitary Constitution.
He was of the opinion that nothing short of a brand new Constitution produced by indigenous nationalities could set the country right.
Nnadi cited Section 14, 2, of the Constitution, adding that what the current National Assembly wants to do is not different from the past attempts at tinkering with the country’s grundnorm.
In a counter argument, the traditional Ruler of Daffo in Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State, Jonathan Akuns, noted that Nigerian leaders missed the opportunity to review the Constitution.
He argued that the 1963 Republican Constitution was not abrogated, saying all the House of Representatives needed to do was to amend it to preserve Nigeria’s democratic and structural foundation.
He said: “Ethnic cohorts held a constitutional conference in Lagos on 25-26 July 1963 and mandated elected members of the House of Representatives to enact the Republican Constitution with effect from January 10,1963.
“The enthroned autochthonous 1963 CFRN was never abrogated by military juntas, but simply suspended. Therefore, we need to carefully stitch the democratic strands of Nigeria by reviewing the autochthonous 1963 CFRN.
“As a result, the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) suffered a prolonged period of an interregnum that stifled and stunted the maturity of the tenets of republican governance in Nigeria. India is a global classic of republicanism in the nationhood strides of countries that also emerged by colonial creation.”
Akuns maintained that the best route for the Constitution review process in the present circumstances is to tinker with the 1963 Republican Constitution, stressing that that is the best bet to preserve the democratic demands of Constitution making.
Earlier, the chairman of NCEF, Dr Samuel Gani, disclosed that the consultative meeting was convened for Christian elders to deliberate on a new Constitution for Nigeria.
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