UPDATED: Obasanjo calls for new constitution

TRACKING_____Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has called for a new political order and arrangement that will strengthen her unity and make room for healthy and useful competition within the one entity “Nigeria”.

The former president who spoke at the first Annual Frederick Fasehun Memorial Lecture in Lagos on Saturday said it has become imperative for the Executive and the Legislature arms of government to work together to establish a Constituent Assembly, to fashion a new constitution for the country because what is required now is a new constitution and not an amendment of the existing one. Obasanjo said the disenchantment with the governance structure started with the quest for “true federalism” during his tenure, but today the refrain has changed to “restructuring”.
The next phase, he said, is likely to be the call for self-determination by one or more geo-political zones, which will not be easy to suppress. He said he was one of those who underestimated the Biafran rebellion, saying it would not last three to six months, but it eventually stretched to 30 months.
“If after more 10 years of fighting Boko Haram, the terrorist group is still waxing strong, let nobody out of self-delusion think that a war of self-determination by one or more geopolitical zones of Nigeria with the present disenchantment would be easily suppressed by the rest of what may remain of the country,” he added.

He said most of the assumptions in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) “have been found to be unrealistic and unrealisable in practice by any administration that wishes to put them in the rubbish bin”.
He added: “This is the situation today. Let us put our experiences to work and fashion out a political order and arrangement that will strengthen our togetherness while making room for healthy and useful competition within the one entity, Nigeria.”

The former president who spoke under the theme, “Working the Talk Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow”, said Nigeria does not need to go the way of Yugoslavia, Sudan or Rwanda and Somalia.
He added: “None of these countries knew the avoidable and divisive end from the beginning. Let us learn from the experience of others and of our founding fathers who resolved their political differences through dialogue and debate without resorting to violence and separation but accommodation, telling themselves hard truth, tolerance and give-and-take spirit.

That was the foundation of Nigeria at independence and let it continue to be. If all we are interested in is power and not holding the country together harmoniously and wholesomely, we may hold the mirage of power and lose the nation or the country bequeathed to us by our founding fathers.”

Obasanjo said the bid by the National Assembly to amend the constitution once again is commendable. This, he added, is because members of the National Assembly are fully aware of the lurking danger and want to be proactive.
He said: “But the Nigerian Constitution does not give the National Assembly the power to write a new Constitution but the power to amend the existing one. What is required is a new constitution to meet the agitation and aspiration of all Nigerians and to allay all fears.

The Executive and the Legislature need to work together to establish a Constituent Assembly. The exercise must not be compromised like the present Constitution; it must have full legitimacy of ‘we the people’.”
He said he would continue to fight for ‘one Nigeria’. Nevertheless, he said he is not prepared to be a second class citizen for the sake of ‘one Nigeria’ and that he would wish the same for his children.
The former president commended the governors of the Southwest region for putting aside their political differences for the sake of the security and the wellbeing of their people.

He said the current national security architecture has failed and that is why state governors have resorted to various measures, including “paying off bandits, hunting them down with vigilantes and hunters and to innovative joint efforts like Amotekun”.
The first Annual Frederick Fasehun Memorial Lecture was organized to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the OPC and to mark one year memorial of the death Fasehun, who passed away on December 1, 2018.
Obasanjo eulogized the late Fasehun, who was the founder of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), saying if he were alive today, he would have been seriously concerned about the deteriorating security situation and the political structure.

He described the late OPC founder as a true and committed Nigeria who stood out as a beacon of hope for the less-privileged. “Though he was learned and well-travelled, he thought nothing of freely associating himself with artisans and people, who were beneath his social status,” he added.
Obasanjo said ironically the late Fasehun’s role as the founder of the OPC has overshadowed his antecedents as a medical doctor.

He said: “Undoubtedly, he wanted to be free of the bureaucracy that attends the running of public institutions in Nigeria. Instead, of remaining in LUTH to bid his time and warm the chair, he resigned honourably. This led to his quitting LUTH to set up Isi-Hope Clinic in 1978 which later became Besthope Hospital. The hospital flourished and grew in popularity. Among the clients was the Dock Workers Union of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC. “His medical prowess included reviving the kidneys of a lady (among several others) whom other doctors had billed for dialysis to be followed by a possible transplant. It took about 10 days at Fasehun’s Besthope Hospital, Mushin area of Lagos, and the kidneys returned to life. That was in 2004.
Shall we speak of women who had their infertility status reversed and came to know the joy of motherhood at Fasehun’s Besthope Hospital? His private hospital became a reference point for best practices in modern Chinese medicine in Africa.”
Obasanjo said he agreed to attend the event because the OPC President Aare Prince Osibote told him that his group is the reformed faction that is espousing the ideals of the late Fasehun