Nigerian Constitution And The Clamour For Restructuring

By Abdulrasheed Ibrahim

If you study the Constitutional development in Nigeria, you will come across various stages such as the Nigerian Council of 1914, Clifford Constitution of 1922, Richards Constitution of 1946, MacPherson Constitution of 1951, and Lyttelton Constitution of 1954 which were basically the handiworks of the colonialists to protect their interest prior to the independence of Nigeria in 1960. The struggle and involvement of Nigerian nationalists led to the 1957 and 1958 constitutional conferences in both Lagos and London. There was the I960 Independence Constitution and subsequently followed by the 1963 Republican Constitution. Most of these Constitutions later recognised three major regional governments known as the Eastern Region, the Western Region and the Northern Region that were respectively once led by Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello. In the post Independent Nigeria, we had on the ground a parliamentary system with Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa as the Prime Minister, Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe as the President and Chief Obafemi Awolowo as the opposition leader at the Federal level.

When there was a political unrest in the Western Region, a state of emergency was declared in that region which situation eventually led to the Military Coup of January 1966 that brought General Agunyi Ironsi as the first Nigerian Military Head of State. He suspended the 1963 Republican Constitution with its regional structures and brought the country under a unitary military system. Ironsi hardly settled down when he was swept away by another military coup of July same year and General Yakubu Gowon became the Head of State. Gowon led the country through a bloody civil war which later broke out. In 1975, Gowon was ousted from power and General Muritala Muhammed became the Head of State. In addition to the twelve (12) states structure left by Gowon, Muhammed created additional seven states to make (19) states in Nigeria. He promised the return to the civilian rule on the 1st October 1979. Unfortunately, General Muhammed was assassinated in a failed attempted coup in 1976 and his deputy General Olusegun Obasanjo took over as the Head of State. In the cause of transition to the civilian rule, a Constitutional Drafting Committee under the Chairmanship of Chief Rotimi Williams, the first Senior Advocate of Nigeria was mandated to draft a new Constitution for the country.

Following the draft of the Constitution which was modelled after the United State of America’s presidential system, a Constituent Assembly under the Chairmanship of Hon. Justice Udo Udoma was also constituted to have a look at the drafted constitution for the necessary amendments before it was passed into law and became to be known as the 1979 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria upon which the Second Republic operated after the return to the civil rule in 1979 under the Presidency of Alhaji Shehu Shagari whose regime was toppled by another military coup on 31st December 1983. General Buhari became the Head of State but was also sacked in a palace coup in 1985. General Ibrahim Babangida became the Military President with the promised that his regime would return the country to the civilian rule. During his endless transition programme another Constitution was also drafted which was called the 1989 draft Constitution but never saw the light of the day because it was not operational. With the half- hearted and prolonged transition programme, Babangida came up with a Presidential election on the June 12 1993 contested for by Chief Moshood Abiola of Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Alhaji Bashir Tofa of National Republican Convention (NRC) . Abiola won the election but Babangida himself annulled the election. He later stepped aside and put in place an Interim National Government (ING) under the Chairmanship of Chief Earnest Shonekan and left behind his then Army Chief, General Sani Abacha to serve in that interim national government which hardly settled down before Abacha sacked it and took over as the Head of State.

With General Abacha at the helm of affairs ,he also promised to return power to the civilian rule and asked the Nigerian politicians to form another set of political parties and which parties were later discovered to be working for the Abacha self-succession bid to perpetuate himself in power. Abacha became very brutal that he dealt with his former bosses in the Military including Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Alhaji Shehu Yar’adua by sending them to prison on the allegation of planning coup against him, not to talk of his other colleagues including Generals Oladipo Diya and Abdulkareem Adisa among others whose death warrants he was about to sign when the angel of death came and took him away. General Abdulsalam Abubakar having succeeded Abacha as the Head of State put together what is today known as the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He organised a General elections wherein Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who was just returning from prison contested for the Presidency under the People Democratic Party (PDP). He won the election and power was handed over to him by General Abubakar as the Executive President on 29th May 1999.

From the above flashback, it could be seen that apart from the military dictatorship., Nigeria has gone through both parliamentary and presidential systems of government respectively modelled after that of the United Kingdom (UK) and United States of America (USA) political systems. This notwithstanding, we are yet to get it right as a nation, There has been this argument that the Nigerian Constitution such as that of 1979 and 1999 are military concoction and that the assertion : “We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria: Having firmly and solemnly resolved: TO LIVE in unity and harmony as one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation under God dedicated to the promotion of inter-African solidarity ,world peace, international co-operation and understanding : AND TO PROVIDE for a Constitution for the purpose of promoting the good government and welfare of all persons in our country on the principles of Freedom ,Equality and Justice, and for the purpose of consolidating the Unity of our people: DO HEREBY MAKE AND GIVE TO OURSELVES the following Constitution….” , as contained in the 1999 Constitution is a ruse. Some senior lawyers in the past have tried to challenge the validity of that Constitution in the court of law on that ground.

Whether we operate the parliamentary system or presidential system, the problem is not with the system or the constitution but rather with those who are elected to operate the system. When we practised the parliamentary system with the three (3) regional structures of the East, West and the North, the leaders (Zik, Awo and Bello) who were in charged then did very well for their respective regions. The size of that three regions today have been split into thirty six states and the Federal Capital Territory ,Abuja and are now being governed by more than 30 Governors .When we had the three regions there was no oil to sustain the nation’s economy rather those visionary leaders depended largely or the agricultural products to develop their respective regions. Today those states governors are not interested in that agricultural sector but rather going to Abuja to collect their states share of the oil revenue. The purpose for which those states were created in the first place has been completely defeated as they were created to bring rapid development throughout the country , but to what extent have they being developed by those governors who have been governing them? This failure has led to the clamour by many Nigerians for the restructuring. When I first heard of the clamour for restructuring, I was wondering what they were talking about. Are those restructurists clamouring that Nigeria should get rid of the present 36 states structure and revert the old three (3) regional structures because of the development witnessed at that time ? I later found the meaning of restructuring as propounded by Chief Olu Falae. According to the elder statesman:

“What we mean by restructuring is going back to the independence Constitution which our leaders negotiated with the British between 1957 and 1959.It was on that basis that the three regions agreed to go to Independence as one united country. So, it was a negotiated constitution. This is because, if the three regions were not able to agree, there would not have been one united independent Nigeria. But because the three regions at that time negotiated and agreed to package a constitution, that is why they agreed to go to independence together . When the military came in 1966 and threw away the constitution, they threw away the negotiated agreement among the three regions which was the foundation of a united Nigeria. So, the military did not only throw away the constitution but a political consensus negotiated and agreed by our leaders of the three regions in those days. When we say restructuring now, we are saying let us go back substantially to that constitution which gave considerable autonomy to the regions. For example, each region at that time collected its revenue and contributed the agreed proportion to the centre. But when the military came, they turned it round and took everything to the centre .That could not have been accepted by Ahmadu Bello, Nnamdi Azikwe or Obafemi Awolowo…”

My understanding of this assertion is that Nigeria should probably go back to the parliamentary system rather than the presidential system presently in operation. I am of the view that the problem is not with the either of the systems but rather with the way the system is being operated in this country. If we have been having the right and patriotic Nigerians running the system there will not be any problem. Are the restructurists suggesting that we should again have only three Premiers running three regions rather than having over 30 Governors governing the States in Nigeria today? Chief Falae said further: “…The regions used to be federating units, but in today’s Nigeria, they would now be called federal regions because states have been created in the regions. So in the West, you now have federation of Yoruba states which would belong to the Nigerian union at the centre. So it is not like the region of old with all the powers. No .It is now going to be a coordinator of the states in the zone. That is what we mean by restructuring .And the regions would have a considerable autonomy as they used to have….”

The problem am having with this proposition is that, if you now have federation of Yoruba States, it means you are again going to have federation of Igbo States and that of federation of Hausa or Fulani states in a country that is boasting of having about 250 tribes, will those other tribes not be shouting of marginalisation or calling for their own federation of states? Chief Falae talked about the “considerable autonomy” had by those three regional governments of old during the First Republic, but today the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) has shut down all the entire courts in the country battling the 36 States’ Governors in the country to respect the Constitution and orders of courts granting autonomy to their respective states’ Judiciaries. Chief Falae has also reminded us that when those regions of old were functioning: “each region at that time collected its revenue and contributed the agreed proportion to the centre” , but the question I keep asking is that what are the States in Nigeria today contributing? I believe the revenue being collected and portion contributed to the centre by those old regions were from the agriculture produces. What has been the fate of that agricultural sector in Nigeria of today?

The rate of employment among Nigerian youths today is too alarming .Our Governors are not giving deep thought to what can be done with the abundant lands their various states are surrounded with. They have refused to give thought to the advantages that can be derived from introducing modern mechanized farming where they could build farm settlements in different parts of their states particularly in the rural areas to help in creating jobs for the youths that are interested in the Agricultural sector. The Governors have refused to develop the rural areas in their various states with modern facilities to make them attractive to the youths to discourage relocation to the urban areas. If those bushes and forests being occupied by bandits and kidnappers as hideouts today had long been brought down for agricultural purposes, would they have served as hidden places for the criminals and terrorists? The failure to do the right things with those bushes and forests has created the hideouts for the terrorists where they take innocent Nigerians hostage and demand for outrageous ransom. If those states forming each of the old region had come together to replicate and continue with what our great visionary leaders like Zik, Awo and Bello had done in the past in agricultural sector, will anyone be complaining of hunger and poverty today? We live in a country which has blessed with abundant fertile lands by the Almighty God and the same God is still expected to come tile the lands for us. When you have brainless politicians and the leaders that behave like deaf and dumb at the helm of affairs, what do expect?

It is easy to blame the military dictators for dismantling the constitution agreed upon by the founding fathers of this nation and turned it to the unitary system where they ruled by decrees and edicts, but the fact still remains that such dismantling was done in collaboration with the politicians . Have the politicians and the military dictators not proved to be birds of the same feather? Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari were at one time or the other the military Heads of State in this country but because of the goodwill many Nigerians had for them then , they were able to have their second comings as civilian Presidents and with that, did they live up to expectations? Whether the present system is restructured or not restructured is not the solution to the problem facing this country rather the solution lies in having leaders that are patriotic, visionary and have the ability to know what is good for the all Nigerians irrespective of their tribe or religious affiliation. Nigerians do not need leaders that will promise one thing but will be doing something else when they get to power. Nigeria as a nation needs leaders that will live by example and be source of inspiration to every Nigerian. The United Kingdom and the United State America from where we borrowed both the parliamentary and presidential system are doing well with their systems because they have been very honest with their systems .Was it a mistake that Nigeria borrowed those systems at one time or the other? Before Ghana became a Republic in 1960 having gotten her independence in 1957, a Constitution was drafted that did not copy the pattern of any other country system. According to Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in his book, I SPEAK OF FREEDOM:

“The draft Constitution is not copied from the Constitution of any other country. It has been designed to meet the particular needs of Ghana and to express the realities of Ghana’s constitutional position .It is therefore proposed that the actual Head of the Government should be the President of the Republic .In this respect the draft Constitution does not follow the tradition of the British model, where either a Monarch or a President (with only the same nominal powers as are exercised today by the Queen in the United Kingdom) is the technical Head of State. Again, the Constitution of the Fifth Republic of France, which provides, in addition to President, for a Prime Minister having little real authority, has not been followed. Nor is it proposed to copy the Presidential system as it exists in the United States and other countries which have followed the United States type of government. Under the United States Constitution there is a division of authority between the executive part of the Government (President and his Cabinet) and the legislative part of the Government (Congress, which consists of the Senate and the House of Representative). Under the United States form of government Cabinet Ministers do not sit in Parliament and the Members of Parliament are elected quite separately from the President so that it is always possible that Parliament may be of one political complexion and the President of another .Where there is disagreement between the President and Parliament there is no machinery for an appeal to the people. The proposed Republican Constitution for Ghana has been designed as to provide as far as possible that the person chosen as President will be the majority party in the Assembly …”

Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was elected as President of Ghana to combine the powers of Head of State and the Head of Government under their Republican Constitution unlike in Nigeria which became a Republic 1963 with Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe and Alhaji Sir Abukakar Tafawa Balewa respectively sharing the powers as the President (Head of State) and Prime Minister (Head of Government) till the Military unfortunately struck on January 15, 1966 and the rest was history.

NOTE: Anyone is at liberty to disagree with my above submissions as I will surely appreciate a balanced, fair and objective rebuttal.

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