Eminent Nigerians, including former Secretary -General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku; Presidential Candidate of Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 General Election, Peter Obi; General Ike Nwachukwu (rtd), Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, have called for a new constitution for Nigeria, which will accommodate the country’s diversity, maintaining that and the drafting of the new document must be given urgent attention. They made this call on Wednesday while speaking at a colloquium on June 12, themed: “Securing the future of Nigeria through a new democratic people’s constitution,” which took place in Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, noting sadly that the Nigerian project was not working because the country operates a constitution that does not suit her numerous challenges.
Speaking at the event, Chief Anyaoku, who was chairman of the occasion, noted that Nigeria from onset had been facing the challenges of managing her diversity, but quickly recalled that the 1960 and 1963 constitutions were drafted to address the challenges until the military came in January 1966 and scattered everything. He, however, warned that unless a courageous action was taken to give the country a new constitution, the country would continue to move towards collapsing as, according to him, some countries that failed to address their diversity, including Yugoslavia, Chesklolavia and Sudan had since disintegrated into several independent states, while other pluralist nations like Canada and India that addressed.
