We Should Scrap This Constitution, Adopt 1963 Republican Charter

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*Says Southern Govs Position Mere Declaration Of
Intent

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria made the recommendation when he
appeared on Politics Today on Monday.

He believes the 1963 Republican Constitution addresses
everything that is being agitated for in the country and can help
halt the turmoil that has rocked the nation.

“If we had that, with amendments here and there to make it
accommodate states rather than regions which we used to have, I
think all these agitations will die down and everybody will be
happy,” he added.

Sagay, who is also the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory
Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), noted the report of the Nasir
El-Rufai led All Progressives Congress (APC) Committee on
Restructuring.

He stated that the committee came up with an excellent report,
stressing the need to look at the content of the documents and
implement them.

The senior advocate was, however, of the opinion that it would
be better to implement the report in a totally new Constitution,
rather than amending the existing one which would involve lots of
amendments.

He explained that the move by the APC to set up such a committee
in the first instance was indicative that President Muhammadu
Buhari was in favour of federalism and devolution of powers.

The PACAC chairman, however, said, “I am personally disappointed
that that excellent document is being allowed to gather dust and I
think the leaders of the party should now bring it out and go to
the President and say, we should now make a move to implement what
we ourselves commissioned and have approved because that is what
the whole country wants now.”

As one of the few people who have virtually seen Nigeria from
the beginning, the octogenarian revealed that he knew nothing about
the Federal Government as a secondary school student.

He recalled that governance was being controlled at the regional
level, noting that there was so much peace in the land at the
time.

“I only knew about Ibadan and Awolowo; the region controlled my
life from A-Z and everything worked perfectly, beautifully,
happily. That is what we are missing. We just have to go back to
that otherwise Nigeria will not enjoy stability,” he said.

Sagay added, “If we can have a process which will be towards
having a new Constitution, it will be better. Until we have it, we
can manage with what the National Assembly is doing but certainly,
it is far from satisfactory but may result in an improvement of
what we have now.

“But what we really need is a clear departure from what we have.
what we have now is a unitary constitution parading itself as a
federal constitution.”

Fielding questions in a monitored programme on Channels
Television, ‘Politics Today’ Sagay maintained that mere declaration
won’t be as impactful as a law from each Southern state prohibiting
open grazing.

“I have been advocating ranching for cattle herding since 2011
as the only way out. I was the first to talk about it until it
became an existential threat to many communities, particularly in
the South.

“Frankly, I don’t think a declaration is sufficient, governors
have to go back to their individual houses of assemblies and
introduce motions, the way Benue state did and actually pass a law
on banning open grazing and instituting ranching.

“So a proclamation is not enough unless they already have laws
which give powers to each governor which I don’t think is the
case.

“There is a need for each state assembly to actually pass a law
against open grazing. This is for me legally a declaration of
intent but it should be followed up by legislation in the
individual state of assembly of the Southern states.

“They have to pass laws prohibiting open grazing” Sagay
stated.