By Ayodele Oni
Human Rights Activist and constitutional lawyer, Dr. Tunji Abayomi has written to the National Assembly advising the Lawmakers to stop work on the ongoing amendment of the 1999 constitution.
Abayomi, in a letter dated March 2, 2022, described the review of the1999 constitution by the National Assembly as ‘a wasteful adventure or misadventure.’
He pointed out that the National Assembly needs to know that Nigeria does not have a constitution and that what it has is Decree 24 of 1999, which, if it were to be amended, needs no input from the states.
According to him, “the National Assembly in its debasing ignorance should simply stop embarrassing Constitutionally intelligent Nigerians.
“This nation still has what the great American historian and philosopher W.E.B Du Bois called the ‘Talent Tenth’ who can command regard and respect in Constitutional knowledge.
“If National Assembly wants us to be continually governed by the military forced Law Decree 24 of 1999, instead of giving us a Constitution from the people, by the people and for the people, it should continue in its wasteful adventures or misadventures.
“The wrong and worthless amendment of the Constitution is enhanced in its absurdly by passing the so called Constitution amendment to States for approval.”
The Constitutional Lawyer insisted that it was due to lack of understanding that made the National Assembly to attempt to involve states in the process of amendment.
“Now, if a Constitution is valid and legitimate, (and this is judged by the procedure of making it not the content) any amendment thereof goes to the people for approval through the legislative representative Assemblies, because it is or deemed to be their document, just as the members in the representative Assembly are deemed to be the people’s direct delegated agents.
“So any Constitutional amendment will not and cannot go to the President for his assent. In Constitutional law the President plays no role in Constitutional amendment.
“Now, if a law (and mind you a Constitution is not law) is legitimate and valid, it unalterable goes to the President for his assent and not the people because laws are made by the government for the people not by the people for the government as in the case of the Constitution.
“The people of states through their representative Assemblies, have no role in law-making.
“The question is what is the so called 1999 Constitution notwithstanding the perverse titling of it as “Constitution ?”
“First it was passed and called Decree 24 of the 1999 (i.e forced law) not by the people but by the military government in exercise of purported co-equal legislative power vested on the National Assembly that was overthrown by the military.
“Is there any doubt then, that the so called 1999 Constitution is a mere law or Decree like any other law made by the National Assembly (or military government as it then was) unsubjectable to the approval or disapproval of the legislatures of the several States.”
