Dumebi Kachikwu to Tinubu: No need to change constitution — we haven’t done enough with current one

Dumebi Kachikwu, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in 2023, has asked President Bola Tinubu not to heed calls by Emeka Anyaoku, a former secretary-general of the commonwealth, to change the 1999 Constitution.

On Friday, Anyaoku urged Tinubu to convene a constituent assembly to draft a “people-centred” constitution for the country.

Anyaoku made the assertion when he led The Patriots, a group of elder statesmen, to a meeting with Tinubu at the State House in Abuja.

Speaking at a press briefing on Saturday, Kachikwu said there is no need to change the constitution.

“This is what a lot of people from the old order always say. Our biggest problem is that we have not done enough with the current constitution available to us,“ Kachikwu said.

“There is so much we can do. Every year or on every legislative agenda, they always introduce constitutional amendments, and in more cases than one, we have seen where the constitution has been amended.

“Whatever we have to do with our constitution, let us take it through that channel. But the first job of our president is to understand that most Nigerians don’t believe we have a country or that we are one people.

“It is what he must start selling so that when we see the green-white-green of our flag, we see it as meaning the same thing to us. He needs to start selling a charter and a new order that speaks to us as a people and brings us together.

“It is not a change of (national) anthem that is our problem. The problem is that the anthem must resonate and mean something to us. We need to start talking about solutions.

“In this country, we are big on the blame game, big on identifying problems, but low on proffering solutions. Why? Solutions are logical and not emotionally appealing. We also can’t score political points with solutions.”