The former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba and Leader of the South-South and Pan-Niger Delta Forum, Chief Edwin Clark have pledged unflinching support for the proposed bills seeking to adopt homegrown parliamentary system of government for Nigeria.
The respected elder statesmen pledged their support in a meeting with some lawmakers led by the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Kingsley Chinda in their separate homes.
Speaking after a closed door meeting with the parliamentarians at his Abuja residence, Chief Osoba averred that the parliamentary system of government is most economical system that ensures devolution of power, noting that the centre is too loaded.
“How can somebody in Abuja stays here and want to control the primary education in Kanuri, in Sokoto, in Bayelsa, in Ogun State, we are different culture,” Osoba queried.
Using security as a case study, Osoba noted that security is very local, saying that if security is localized, it will become easier to identify and apprehend perpetrators because the people know their terrain and will easily know where terrorists are hiding among them.
The former governor also noted that the cost of governance now is outrageous and expressed satisfaction that some young people are now committed to make a difference with the nation’s governance structure.
“I’m very happy to see these dynamic, committed, patriotic young men who believe in the future of this country and who are determined to make the difference. I feel so happy and I thank God that I’m alive to see this day where we have young people who have taken the baton and our objective, they are not after anybody, they are not out to impose their views but they have come out like the common saying, to bell the cat,” Osoba noted.
On his part, elder statesman, Chief Clark who applauded the lawmskers’ initiative, maintained that restructuring of Nigeria can no longer wait, stressing that there will be no Nigeria without restructuring the country.
While noting that the Constitution drawn in London was rejected by Nigerians who after the country became a Republic in 1963, collectively “decided to have an homegrown Constitution in 1963.”
He also cited the provisions in the 1963 Constitution which provided that any member, anybody who wants to become Minister in Nigeria must contest election to the Senate and to the House of Representatives, otherwise such person cannot be a minister.
Speaking on his campaign for restructuring, Chief Clark who clocked 96 on Thursday, presented a book titled ‘Brutally Frank’ where he devoted a whole chapter to restructuring of Nigeria to the visiting Minority Leader.
The elder statesman maintained that the state governors, who now look up to the president as their principal, have taken over the country, saying that without them, nothing can happen.
“There is no governor of the 36 states that does not stay more than two weeks in Abuja.”
While urging the lawmakers to fast-track the process with a view to replace the 1999 Constitution, Chief Clark also noted that the National Constitutional Conference held in 2014 recommended rotation of governors among the three senatorial districts across the country.
Speaking during the meeting with Chief Clark, the Minority Leader, who observed that the lawmakers are under pressure to bring the needed changes to governance, argued that the current presidential system of government is too cumbersome and adding little or no value to the country considering the diversity and the people’s unique backgrounds.
Chinda maintained that the country requires a home-grown structure that will consider people’s background and its laws.
He said as a result, his team collectively resolved that the present style of presidential system in Nigeria is too cumbersome and cannot in any way be repaired as it stands today.
He said, “A governor or a president can run the state or the country for four years without talking to Nigerians. There’s no offence he has committed; no offence against our laws. That is why you will hear the likes of Garba Shehu, (Ajuri) Ngelale, talking to Nigerians instead of the Number One Citizen of the country. No offence is committed.
“During COVID-19, all of us were here, other countries were having briefing weekly by their presidents, our president did not do it; rather, we have committees that were talking to Nigerians, and when they goofed, then he will come up to say it was not from us.
“We must have a system where public office holders, including ourselves that you have elected will be more accountable to you, the people. A system where public office holders will be hands-on, it’s not to administer the people by proxy. And all that, we have put together.”
He added: “Our leader, we came with one agenda, and as representatives elected into the House of Representatives of Nigeria, to make laws for the good governance of this country, to make law for the peace and progress of this country – Nigeria.
“Our leader, you’re aware, and will not shy away from the fact that our country is not where we all expected it should be today. We’re not here to lay blames, we are not here to dig deep into issues that perhaps will make great discordant tone. Our assignment and our job is to look for solutions to some of these problems.
“As parliamentarians, we have sat, we have brainstormed, we are worried, we are concerned that the pressure is on us and how do we go forward? And one of the things we have seen, yes, management capacity, human factors and all that, and that’s why most people say, “oh, the problem of Nigeria is not the type of politics, but the people running the system that is the problem.”
“But the truth is that even with the best of people, if you don’t have the right structure, it becomes difficult for them to succeed,” he stressed.
While noting that the military experience is still rubbing off on the country, Hon. Chinda maintained that there is a need for a paradigm shift by way of rejigging the extant laws in a manner that suit the people’s unique backgrounds and diversity for the benefit of all and sundry.
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