Immediate past Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate, and Chairman of the south east constitution review committee, Senator Ike Ekweremadu has called for the amendment of the Nigerian Constitution.
Ekweremadu made the call while speaking to newsmen at the Enugu Centre of the South East Zonal public hearing on the proposed alteration to the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
The Senator representing Enugu West Senatorial Zone said amending the Constitution is the only way to bring a befitting Constitution without calling for anarchy.
He noted that amendment of Constitutions have been done in some countries with similar challenges.
“We have seen countries with a similar challenge, countries like Kenya, Brazil, etc., what they did was to amend the original Constitution to make a provision on how that Constitution can be amended. We did it the last time and it wasn’t assented to,” he added.
Continuing, Sen Ekweremadu said the relevant sections of the Constitution has to be amended to accommodate burning issues in the country.
“The only way we can bring a new Constitution without creating anarchy is to amend Section 9 of the Constitution to create a provision on how to amend the Constitution itself especially the issue of referendum which I believe is where everyone is heading to.
“We have to amend this Constitution to reflect even how to bring a befitting Constitution. All these has to be spelt out in the amendment, whether we’re doing it today or tomorrow.”
He called on Nigerians to take advantage of the public hearing exercise to kick start the process so that at the appropriate time when the relevant sections of the constitution has been amended, Nigerians can have a conversation on having a befitting Constitution.
Ekweremadu also said having a new and befitting Constitution is pertinent because, currently, a lot amendments has been made to the Constitution which most Nigerians don’t know and this might lead to confusion.
“We have done a lot of amendments which most Nigerians don’t even know and there’s confusion already. When we do more, it gets to a point where we don’t even know which one is the original text and the one that has been amended.
“It happens in ordinary legislation, after so many amendments of the acts of the National Assembly, the clever thing to do is to repeal it and re-enact it. I think at this point, we must save ourselves all these troubles and amend the provisions of the Section 9.” Ekweremadu stated.
Nnenna.O
