•NASS doesn’t have power to amend Nigeria’s constitution
Elder statesman and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Mike Ahamba SAN, has said that Nigerians should look at why the constitution is failing and not be saddled with making a new constitution.
Speaking with VINCENT KALU on various nation issues, the legal luminary emphasised that those clamouring for state police want their own army they will control.
Insecurity remains unabated, what should be the proper application to end it?
We are in a state of insecurity in the country. Nobody is safe. You are asking what the government should do. They should go and train their security personnel; they should give them adequate and proper training. As a layman, the way policemen are shot and killed at checkpoints and they didn’t counter embarrasses me. The other day, 16 soldiers were killed and they couldn’t counter. If I can remember what we were taught during the civil war; as a soldier, as you move, you expect ambush. No matter where you are going, you should expect ambush. How come that not even one soldier reacted to that ambush to gun down the assailants? Tinubu should hold a meeting with the senior officers and reconsider their level of training before exposing them to danger for any assignment.
Secondly, the government should alleviate the sufferings of the people because most of these people who are criminals may not have been if they had garri to eat. If a person is feeding well, it is not likely that he would carry his criminality to an extent we don’t expect. If they want to call a conference on alleviation of insecurity and they invite people like us, we will come and speak our minds. Security is not something you discuss publicly; it is a thing you discuss in a private meeting. If somebody shoots about four or five policemen and officers at checkpoints, and they couldn’t counter, then something is wrong.
The government is mooting the idea of a state police. What is your position on this?
That is not the solution to insecurity; it will worsen it. We have been so ethicised in our behaviour that we would only create internal battle between policemen from one state and police from another state and that will aggravate our insecurity.
Those who are clamouring for state police want their own army they will control. I have always stood against it and I have no reason to change my mind. I was in the secondary school in the First Republic and I know what the local native police did, and if we have state police, they are going to repeat the same thing. If you do proper enquiries, you find out the vigilante groups are being misused; and some of the organisations formed by the state governments are being misused by the governments. State police will aggravate the problem, I have said it, if we properly train and equip the central police, they would be able to handle the situation. Creating state police to solve our problems will create more problems.
The National Assemble has set up a committee to review the constitution of Nigeria. The committee has called for memoranda from the public. What is your view on this?
I have seen the list of what they want to review. If they review all those things, isn’t that a new constitution? If you feel that many things in that constitution should not be there, then, the NASS has the competence to set up a Constituent Assembly that will make a new constitution and bring it to you for approval. This question of infusing new section in existing constitution ends up spoiling books already written; end up messing up judgments judges had already written. In America’s constitution, you find out that the number of amendments exceeds the number of sections in it. You now find the constitution of the United State and then you now find amendments to the constitution. You put them as codicil to the constitution; you don’t go changing every section in the constitution at any point and call it review.
Under what section of the constitution do you get the power to review the constitution? What I know they have is the power to alter provisions of the constitution, not even to alter the constitution. There is a difference between alteration and amendments. Those who made that constitution whether they were right or wrong is not my business, the important thing is that they did include that it should be amended. The NASS has the power to create constituent assembly. If we say do it and set it to plebiscite, do you set plebiscite without a law? Which section of the constitution allows you to a plebiscite on anything except boundary adjustment? All things have to be done by fresh laws made by the NASS and seriously considered. That is the arguments in my book, and I have no reason to change that.
Are you saying that the NASS doesn’t have the power to amend the constitution?
Which section of the law gives them such power? I’m a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) of 32 years standing; I’m telling you that all you have in the section is ‘to alter the provisions of the constitution.’ It did say, ‘to amend’ and told you that there is a difference between amendment and alteration. Let anyone take me on a debate on this issue I’m ready.
Some people are advocating a return to the parliamentary system of government. What is your take on this?
I don’t agree again. That was what had before, but we said we didn’t want it and we opted for the presidential system. Now, we have presidential, we don’t want it anymore and we want to go back to parliamentary system. Let us find out whether it is the presidential or the parliamentary that is the problem or those who are implementing it. After all, presidential is working in America, France, Ghana and other countries. I don’t agree that our problem is presidential or parliamentary; the problem is the mindset of our rulers. If you make it parliamentary, which of course the NASS doesn’t have the power to do. It means changing the constitution and the tenure of office. Somebody would go to court to challenge it. Those who say that this constitution is not their constitution should look at the antecedent to the 1999 constitution. There was a constituent assembly that went round and collected views and came down with a resolution that we should go back to the 1979 constitution. Is there much difference between the 1979 constitution and the 1999 constitution? It is the same constitution except one of two alterations. That was the desire of the people in 1998 when a tour was being carried out to determine what type of constitution we want. Majority said they wanted the 1979 to continue. So, if we want to change the 1999 constitution, we change it. The military consulted extensively before they made that constitution, and the advice to them was to restore the 1979 constitution, and they did that except few alterations.
Some people argue that instead of review of the constitution, the 2014 confab report should be implemented. What is your take on this?
Do you know how many resolutions that were passed at that Confab? They were more than 600. Have you seen a copy of the US constitution together with the amendments? You can put it in your breast pocket. Have you seen the constitution of China? It is actually a pamphlet; it is wider than the US constitution because of the nature of the print. Look at Nigeria’s constitution, it is already a big book, and we want to write more. We have to look at why the constitution is failing and not the constitution.
I was in the 2014 Confab; I took three constitutions – Nigeria, US and China to the Confab and said, look at the America’s constitution, I put it in my breast pocket; look the China’s constitution, I put it in my side pocket and look at the volume of the Nigeria’s constitution and you people are talking for more. So, let us find out why are constitutions are failing. There may be a question of bad work men complaining about their tools. If you listen to radio commentaries, most of the people who are discussing the constitution haven’t even seen a copy of the Nigeria’s constitution.
If we are going to make any changes this time around let it be thorough. This is my view, I have never insisted on my views carrying the day, I only have insisted on my views being noted for tomorrow.
Most people in the south are clamouring for restructuring, but some elders in the north said it has not been properly defined for everyone to understand. What is restructuring?
If you look at my book, I defined my view on restructuring. It is not that we should change back to regions because I can assure you that there are no two states that will want to absorb into one state in this country today. We like to sweep our dirt under the carpet. Tell me in the southeast how many states will go back to the region?
What we can do is to find out how we can make the present 36 states function quasi independently to give them a lot of latitude to solve their own problems by themselves.
Before the military took over, Nigeria was structured on production. When the military came without mandate, they now structured Nigeria to consumption and the problem is that those who are producing are losing, while those who are not producing anything are gaining. You say those we are gaining without producing to be against it. Let’s do a proper debate on this restructuring. I don’t think you should emerge two states unless those who decide on legislation to cooperate in one or two areas.
The economy of each state is structured in such a way that it can work on its own. Let us go back to 50 per cent on derivation of very close to it. My suggestion at the Confab was 30 per cent at least. I know that those who are benefitting will not like a complete reversal. The present constitution talks about not less than 13 per cent. Not less than13 per cent gives you the opportunity to go up to 50 per cent, but nobody will unless we decide to make it a constitutional affair. Those who are used to feeding bottle will not allow you to take away the feeding bottle. We have to accept that fact and tell them, not to take all the milk, but allow those producing to take more milk.
We used to have groundnut pyramids in the north, where are they today? Agriculture is no longer the foundation of our economy today; oil has killed so many things. In this country, Okpara ruled the Eastern Region for five years and made it to be the fastest growing economy south of the Sahara; internationally recognised with palm oil. Malaysia came here and collected palm oil seedlings, the economy of Malaysia is based on palm oil, where is our own?
When you start bottle feeding, those who are taking the feed will not want to work. We have arable land. Israel was forced into a desert and they developed it into an agricultural hub. But our own, we are afraid of the desert, we want to go and plant trees, not economic trees to stop the desert from coming. We have to think about our future and the solution to the future is within us.
For me, I’m a Nigerian till tomorrow. I don’t believe that there will be peace in the Southeast if it secedes and I don’t want it in my lifetime. That is the truth of my position, not because I don’t like some independence, but all I like is give every sate the opportunity to be as big as they can produce. You don’t rob peter to Paul and expect peace. Anybody talking about secession should count me out. It is not the solution to Igbo problem in this country.
What is your position on the hike in electricity tariff?
Anything that happens Nigerians always accept it. It was Butro Butro Gali, former secretary general of the United Nations, said that if he was given a chance to go to another country as a citizen, he would go to Nigeria. When he was asked why, he said they absorb everything.
In some places, nearly adjusting the price of bread for six pence causes a riot in that country, but in Nigeria whatever happens we want to say that we are strong enough to absorb, so we absorb it. If your man is in charge, it is right; if your man is not in charge it is wrong. It is not a right attitude in a nation building. No wonder some people say, we don’t have a country.
What led to this your position?
It is because of fear. Some people fear that if they say no, they would be descended upon unlike how others would be descended upon if they say the same thing. And that type of opinion is not the best, but it is true. Tinubu came and removed fuel subsidy without palliative. Now palliative comes with one tuber of yam for two families. This is just funny. I believe in subsidy being removed. It was the same APC that said there was no subsidy during campaigns; that it was fraud by the PDP, what then were they removing? Now they have agreed that there was a subsidy, you remove it systematically, gradually and not just once and asking people to be patient.
There are some people whose patience would be in the grave; in fact many already. I’m asthmatic. I used to buy a canister of inhaler for N1, 000, now that same canister is N15, 000. Imagine a person in the village who doesn’t have that kind of money, what will he do. So, to me, you have to consider a person who is not as privileged as you are. That is why they say I don’t play Nigeria’s politics. My concern is not about myself; my concern is to make everybody comfortable so that I can be comfortable too.
There are many people who believe that the only way to be comfortable is to acquire as much wealth as possible. I don’t blame them because if they don’t acquire it you will fail in the next election. The same people who are complaining will be the same people who will demand from you to vote for you in the next election. If you don’t give them, they would vote for your dubious enemy who gave them money. I’m a victim; I know what I’m talking about. He is the best candidate but he doesn’t have money to get the nomination. Who was told that?
In my book, I gave a chapter to the problems of Nigeria; I said that we should stop looking at politicians alone. I itemised five symptoms of Nigeria including the politicians, mass media and other people. If you have that book, Getting it right in Nigeria, there is a chapter I itemised all the people who are causing problems in Nigeria. It is not politicians; if you focus on politicians alone you make a mistake.