Bad Governance has been, is, and will be the outcome of operating the 1999 Constitution, a forgery foisted upon Nigerians. The longer that 1999 Forgery (Constitution) remains in operation, the worse the living conditions of Nigerians will be. That is precisely the intended outcome of the 1999 Constitution by those who invented it and imposed it: it is the Instrument that brings on the Fulani Conquest Agenda against Nigerians as revealed by Ahmadu Bello in his infamous October 1960 statement that Nigerians would be a “conquered” people and Nigeria would become the “estate” of the immigrant settler Fulani.
What does “conquered” people or a “conquered” life look like? Answer: It looks like the life of the ordinary Nigerian. It means that in the midst of rich natural resources the life of the Nigerian will be filled with danger, lack, nothing working properly, frustration and hopelessness. It means that the Nigerian would not be able to control his present or his future – which is the essence of the Fulani Conquest Agenda for Ahmadu Bello had said, “…and never allow them [Nigerians] to have control over their future.”
For decades Nigerians have been crying out for good governance and they will not get it because they have not Taken Down the 1999 Constitution that guarantees bad governance. In August, Nigerians plan on peaceful protests to End bad governance and End bad government – but they will not get that if they do not Take Down the 1999 Constitution. Just like EndSARS just brought a renaming of one or other police department and bad governance continued since the 1999 Constitution was not Taken Down, the same will happen to every protest that does not Demand the Taking Down of the 1999 Constitution. It is not a matter of re-writing a new Constitution, or of substituting the 1999 Constitution with another Document eg from the 2014 Confab (National Conference), or Fapohunda’s Draft Bill, or even the 1963 Constitution. Since Sovereignty belongs to the indigenous Ethnic Nations Taking Down the 1999 Constitution and Renegotiating the Change that ordinary Nigerians want must follow internationally established processes. Things must be done PROPERLY, in a LOGICAL manner based on where Sovereignty lies and following the procedures that were taken in the 1950s prior to Independence in 1960. NINAS Secretariat has already put out that information in the public space in the Notice of Declararation of Constitutional Force Majeure (link to it is in the NOTES section below), as well as in many Communiqués and Broadcasts since then. This is information that Protesters-to-be should first digest before going out so that they do not waste their efforts.
Protesters-to-be of End bad governance or End bad government or any protest at any time should therefore define the change they seek. NINAS had through various public education materials shown how Nigeria’s FUNDAMENTAL problem is its dysfunctional constitutional arrangement codified by the 1999 Constitution. More recently, on 27th July 2024, the NINAS Spokesman was invited to a virtual Townhall on X Space (formerly Twitter) to encourage Protesters-to-be to interrogate what Unitary Nigeria is and he showed how the 1999 Constitution is the Source of miseries. A link to the recording of this event is in the NOTES section below.
Quoting from the virtual Townhall mentioned above, here is a summary of what Protesters-to-be or any Nigerian who wants an end to bad governance and wants to see true Change in a non-violent manner, through an ORDERLY PROCESS should consider:
“(1) That the Unitary Constitution of Nigeria is the Tap from which the Failures and Dysfunctions of Nigeria as well as the Woes and Miseries of Nigeria flow, including Corruption, Impunity, Insecurity, Economic Free-Fall, Mass Poverty, Unemployment, Agitations, Infrastructural Decay, Serial Electoral Malfeasances, Mass Hopelessness and Disillusionment.
(2) That the Solution to Nigeria’s dysfunctions is the Wholesale Decommissioning of the 1999 Constitution, not Amendments or forms of Legislative Action, just as South Africa’s Apartheid Constitution was Jettisoned and Decommissioned from 1990-1994.
(3) That the Mechanism for Taking Down the 1999 Constitution is the Immediate Shutting Down of Preparations for further National Elections under that Constitution as a mark of our rejection of that Constitution since Election is the mechanism by which the life of the Constitution is renewed every four years, and since the winner of Elections must swear to and Govern by that Constitution. Note: The Election Shutdown referred to here is not an Election Boycott.
(4) That the Action required NOW to Trigger the Election Shutdown that will Precipitate the Decommissioning of the 1999 Constitution, is to Demand immediately (in 2024), the initiation of a Transitioning Process to Renegotiate and Rework the Fundamentally Flawed Basis of Nigeria in place of another round of Elections in 2027 under the 1999 Constitution.
(5) That the NINAS 5-Point Proposition for the Constitutional Reconstruction of Nigeria (which essentially requires the Federal Government of Nigeria to Acknowledge that the Unitary Constitutional Arrangements of Nigeria is Reason for the Dysfunctions and Failures of Nigeria and to therefore Expressly Commit to the wholesale Constitutional Reconstruction of Nigeria in the Two-Stage Procedure Stipulated by the NINAS Proposition) offers Nigeria the most immediate, most viable Framework for an Orderly Renegotiation, Reconfiguration and Reconstruction of the Distressed Federation of Nigeria in the face of widespread Disputations over the Nigerian Union and the Drift towards Anarchy.
In light of the foregoing, it is recommended that the Demands of the Protests which already listed the scrapping of the 1999 Constitution as Principal-Demand, will become exponentially more realisable if reinforced by the express adoption of the NINAS 5-Point Proposition as that will make the Protest Demands more Definitive and therefore offer the best prospects of a Definitive Response from Government in a manner that can truly resolve the long-standing Distortions of the Nigerian Federation which has culminated in the Dysfunctions and Failures now being protested.”
Ndidi Uwechue is a British citizen with Igbo heritage from the Lower Niger Bloc. She is a retired Metropolitan (London) Police Officer, she is a signatory to the Constitutional Force Majeure, and she writes from Abuja.
NOTES:
1) Townhall recording: NigeriaProtests2024: Defining the Change We Seek and Distilling Demands that will Deliver the Change. Link: https://youtu.be/QIJeuxNUC1E?si=scuduLs6XtD6ScPJ
2) Notice of Constitutional Force Majeure, published in the Guardian Nigeria newspaper. Link: https://guardian.ng/news/notice-of-constitutional-grievances-declaration-of-constitutional-force-majeure-and-demand-for-transitioning-process-for-an-orderly-reconfiguration-of-the-constitutional-basis-of-the-federation/
