Beyond NASS’ constitution amendment drive and the coalition’s babel of voices

Like a female dog “in heat,” when she’s in the fertile stage of her reproductive cycle, Nigeria can be said to be in heat at the moment. The National Assembly is pregnant with a constitution amendment drive. The likely product is still a thing of the future. Fingers crossed! The sing-song on the nation’s political turf is “coalition.” This seems to be a refuge where angry and ambitious politicians are intermingling ahead of 2027. The way the ruling party is reacting, it appears some people are already jittery. The reading could be wrong. Nigerians are watching the razzmatazz going on with keen interest.

“But the constitution, with all its deficiencies, still has positive ingredients that could change the fortunes of the country if they were well implemented.”

NASS’ constitution amendment drive

Just last week, prominent stakeholders from all states in the Southwest converged on Lagos for the zonal public hearing on the review of the 1999 Constitution.

The exercise also took place in other geopolitical zones of the country. In Lagos, the Senate said that it was carrying out the exercise because the previous amendments did not resolve several fundamental questions of governance affecting Nigeria.

The Senate noted that lots of initiatives it promoted to introduce state police, enshrine the roles of traditional institutions in the constitution, and devolve more powers to subnational governments, among others, in the previous amendments did not secure two-thirds approval at the state assemblies.

The National Assembly (NASS), since the Fourth Republic, had made five different attempts to review the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), each of which had culminated in some amendments in the grundnorm.

The current constitutional amendment is focusing on fundamental human rights, government structure, inclusive reforms, institutional reforms, judicial reforms, local government creation, and local government reforms.

Others are devolution of powers, electoral reforms, fiscal reforms, state creation, state police, the legislature, state police, women’s political representation, and traditional institutions.

Indeed, the NASS has taken a good step in its drive to further amend the amended 1999 Constitution.

But there is a great gulf between good intention and the actual performance of it. The greatest obstacle the 10th Assembly has is itself.

Early in the life of the 10th Assembly, the Federal legislature had put its wrong foot first, which disappointed many Nigerians.

The trust deficit has so deepened that whatever the NASS tries to do today is seen as playing to the gallery. Despite the efforts being made by the NASS, cynicism has remained.

A lot of human and material efforts have been invested into the constitution amendment drive. The question is, does the Nigerian constitution need amendment? The answer is in the affirmative.

But the constitution, with all its deficiencies, still has positive ingredients that could change the fortunes of the country if they were well implemented.

Successive administrations and governments have not been able to muster the political will to rightly do the right thing.

Lee Kuan Yew, a Singaporean politician who ruled as the first Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990, did not wait for a perfect constitution before he began the re-engineering work in Singapore. Today, he is widely recognised as the founding father of the modern Singaporean state.

Franklin D. Roosevelt mounted the saddle as president of the United States of America at a very difficult time.

Roosevelt came up with “The New Deal,” a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression, which had started in 1929. He changed the story of a depressed America.

Margaret Thatcher, a former British stateswoman who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, changed the housing story in her country. Things were bad before she came on board, but through the housing policy, which primarily centred around the “Right to Buy” scheme, homeownership was increased.

The policy allowed council tenants to purchase their homes at a discount. It led to a decrease in council housing stock and a rise in private renting.

The above instances showed what is possible with visionary leadership.

While the National Assembly must be commended for the move to amend the constitution, Nigerians are clapping with one hand until the effort begins to yield the desired results.

Nigerians would want to see a change in the way the government conducts its activities in the interest of the long-suffering masses as a result of the exercise.

A constitution that has all the ingredients but lacks proper implementation would not be in the interest of the people.

If the exercise was just aimed at putting more money in the pockets of the lawmakers who initiated it, if it is for photo ops or headline-grabbing purposes, then the noble efforts would also go the way of others before it.

But the appeal by the upper legislative chamber that the public hearing should not be considered as a jamboree but an integral constitutional requirement should be taken as a pledge to do the right thing.

Coalition and Babel of voices

The popular opinion about the ongoing coalition of opposition parties is that it could make an impact only if the political actors are ready to sacrifice their individual ambitions for the good of the Nigerian people.

Many Nigerians are worried that most of the congregants in the African Democratic Congress (ADC) are those who want to settle some scores with the sitting president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. They are a band of angry politicians, not so much driven by any desire to make a better impact in the life of the long-suffering Nigerian.

While most of them have also leveraged Nigeria to become multi-millionaires, the country that made them what they are today is in ruins.

While they are congregating again to promise to take Nigerians to the El Dorado, citizens are skeptical because of their awful experience in the hands of yesterday’s politicians.

It is also difficult to determine the genuineness of their motive between service and just a change of guard at the Aso Rock Villa.

Many citizens are quick to describe Nigeria’s political experience as “from frying pan to fire,” referring to a situation where preceding administrations and governments (even in their worst forms) are still far better than the succeeding ones.

For instance, many observers have said that the Goodluck Jonathan administration was far better than the Muhammadu Buhari administration and that the immediate past administration seemed to be better than the current one.

Peter Obi has come out to say that he is contesting. It is a known fact that Atiku Abubakar and Rotimi Amaechi also have an eye on the ticket.

The thinking of many Nigerians is that since it is a coalition, individual members should not be speaking for themselves. The coalition should, by now, know where it is heading by way of who should fly the flag in 2027. What is their ideology?

If by tomorrow, Atiku and Amaechi rise up and begin to announce their own individual intentions, that would spell doom for the coalition. Since they have left their individual parties to congregate in ADC, it would mean that they are working with one mind and towards one purpose.

To avoid the same confusion that has engulfed the parties that they are running away from, the arrowheads must allow the intermingling to be done properly and in order.

It was gratifying to read yesterday that Atiku

said he was not opposed to the emergence of a Southern candidate. The piece of news gave an indication that he is not in the ADC to seek the party’ ticket for 2027.

“No amount of propaganda, planted stories, or faceless briefings will fracture the resolve of the opposition coalition. We are united, focused, and determined to rescue Nigeria from the clutches of this rudderless government,” he reportedly said.

But has the coalition agreed on zoning? I hope nobody will come out tomorrow to say he/she does not respect zoning. Many analysts say that it should be emphasised from the outset that power must remain in the south till 2031, and that any other conversation to the contrary will only drag the country back and down.

If the coalition hopes to make an impact, it must adopt the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)’s template used in forming the APC.

In 2013, all the parties or splinter political organisations that fused into the APC brought something robust to the table. That is not the case with those joining the ADC today. They are coming from halting and brutally bruised political associations, parties that are beset with intractable internal wrangling.

APC was founded from the amalgamation of ACN, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and part of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). Already, original members of the ADC are screaming blue murder that their parties have been hijacked by “invaders.” These are signs that all is not well with the anchor party itself.

The coalition should not be a babel where the ambitions of the presidential hopefuls will be pushing them to be locking horns.

The critical question on the lips of many Nigerians is whether or not Atiku would agree to yield ground for someone from the south to fly the flag.

Since the next four-year term is also for the south, going by the gentleman’s zoning agreement, it would amount to a hara-kiri for any northerner to rise to seek nomination.

Part of the things the coalition should do in the next few days is to make known their decision on where the presidency is going in 2027.

These are some of the critical issues that need to be ironed out by the members before the proper fusing to avoid a repeat of the 2023 episode in the PDP.