Ayo Adebanjo: 1999 constitution already broken-down — no amendment will work

Ayo Adebanjo, chieftain of Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, says hunger protests, insecurity challenges and the slide of the naira are signs that Nigeria is heading for a collapse.

Adebanjo, who spoke with TheCable on Saturday, said until Nigeria’s constitution is restructured to reflect true federalism, the country would not enjoy peace.

The elder statesman’s comments come amid the plan by the national assembly to amend the 1999 constitution. With 40 amendment bills received so far, the constitution review committee is expected to be inaugurated on Monday, February 26.

While calling for the outright overhaul of the 1999 constitution, Adebanjo said no matter the amendments done, nothing will work as it should.

“The issue of insecurity and bad economy are products of the fraudulent constitution that we are using. There can be no progress until that constitution is thoroughly changed. A surgical operation must be done on that constitution,” he said.

“Until they bring down this constitution and we have a new beginning, we can’t make any headway. You are just patching things up, amending a constitution that you didn’t make. You are amending a constitution that is already broken-down.

“They will talk of state police today, resource control tomorrow and then they will take the constitution amendment to the parliament. Yet, the parliament is a product of fraud.

“No matter what they are doing, it can’t work.”

Adebanjo added that the solution is to “change the constitution back to federalism”.

“Let all the federating states be autonomous. Let’s go back to the 1963 constitution. No more, no less. Anything short of that, you are just wasting your time,” he said.