Eminent Nigerians under the aegis of The Patriots on Friday met with President Bola Tinubu at the State House, Abuja and called for a people’s democratic constitution.
The Patriots also advised the President alongside the state governors to dialogue with the leaders of the ongoing protests in the country and warned security agencies to avoid using lethal weapons on the protesters.
Briefing State House correspondents after the meeting, the leader of The Patriots, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, disclosed that another demand his group made was the call for the President to send Executive Bill to the National Assembly and to convene a National Constituent Assembly that will draft a new constitution for the country.
He said that the Constituent Assembly would consist of individuals elected by the people on non party basis from each of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.
The former Secretary General of the Commonwealth further said that the new constitution should make provision for a referendum.
He said, “We’ve had a very constructive meeting with the President. We the Patriots, and I believe you know what the Patriots are. The Patriots are a nonpartisan group of eminent Nigerians.
READ ALSO:Benue: Bandits kill over 30 in fresh Ukum LG attack
“Some call it leaders of thought, who are committed to the unity of our country and good governance of our country under a legitimate people’s democratic constitution. So we came to convey this view that Nigeria needs a people’s democratic constitution.
“Nigeria, we affirmed to Mr. President is a pluralistic country. And you all know that pluralistic countries exist all over the world. Those of them that addressed their pluralism by having true federal constitutions have survived. Example is India and Canada.
“But those pluralistic countries that failed to address their basic challenge of pluralism through federal Constitution have ended up disintegrating. Examples of that Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia and here in Africa, Sudan.
“These countries existed in the case of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia for about 100 years as one country, but they eventually disintegrated because they could not manage their pluralism through truly the federal constitution.
“And we put some proposals to Mr. President and we urged him to send a president’s executive bill to the National Assembly, a bill that will call for two essential measures.
“One, the convening of a National Constituent Assembly, to be mandated to produce a new draft constitution. And we suggested that such National Constituent Assembly should consist of individuals elected by the people on non party basis.
READ ALSO:Human Rights community condemns police invasion of CDHR’s office
“Say for example, three individuals per each of the 36 states and one from the Federal Capital Territory and they should be mandated to produce a new draft constitution.
“And we also suggested that in the bill, the National Assembly should be asked to legislate for a national referendum because as our laws stand at the moment, we have no provision for a national referendum.
“And we concluded by saying that the draft constitution to emerge from the Constituent Assembly should be subjected to the national referendum in order to give the people of Nigeria a chance to determine the new constitution.
“We also talked about the current crisis of protests throughout the country.
And we advised the President that in our view, the government at the federal and state levels should dialogue with the leaders of the protests.
READ ALSO:Winners of Mike Okonkwo National Essay Competition emerge
“The government should take the initiative in dialoguing with the leaders of the protests. And secondly, we advised that the law enforcement agencies, namely the police and the army, should avoid using lethal weapons in the management of the protests, so that we do not have casualties, people were killed because of the way the law enforcement agencies are managing the protests. So these were the points that we put to Mr. President.”
Members of The Patriots that were present at the meeting included the former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN, the former governor of Ogun State, Chief Segun Osoba, a Constitutional lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, the former Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, Senator Ben Obi, Senator Shehu Sani, former Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, Olawale Okunniyi (General Secretary) and the Niger Delta activist, Ms Anne-kio Briggs.