The people, not politicians, make a constitution. Let that sink in!
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It is amusing to watch a three year old struggling to carry a heavy item. The child has seen Papa carry it, and wants to be like Papa. Papa watches for a few minutes, then goes over to his little one and lovingly says, “Kiddo, it’s my job as your daddy to carry that heavy load. Here, let me take it”. Instantly, the little child understands. The child understands that there are some things that Papa does, and some other things that a child can do.
If a little three-year-old understands that your position determines your role, then adults should be able to understand that too. Yet, when it comes to Constitution-making, it seems that a good proportion of adult Nigerians have found it difficult to grasp that a country’s Constitution is made by we the people and NOT by politicians or members of government.
There are books that explain Constitution-making, there are articles and videos on the Internet that explain Constitution-making, yet some Nigerians continue to rely on the National Assembly or a president to get a Constitution done for them, when it has always been: We the people who make for ourselves our Constitution.
One reason for this ignorance is that education and access to information have been deliberately run down to keep the masses ignorant, so easily deceived by the elite (political, religious, cultural, etc, plus the media, and NGOs/CSOs).
Another reason for the persisting confusion and error about constitution-making is the lack of humility to do the reading and research to know what a constitution is, then to find out how one is obtained.
A Constitution is the SUPREME RULE BOOK of a community or country, and it describes how the people are to run their affairs. All the Laws needed would be based on it.
In Nigeria’s case, the 1999 Constitution being operated is a fraud, and that would also be the status of the laws of Nigeria because they are all based on that fraudulent constitution – fraud can only give birth to fraud!
However, that is said in passing, the deep fraudulence of Nigeria is a discussion for another day. The function of a constitution is to establish and define the purpose of a country or state.
It is the Constitution that actually creates government – not the other way round. It creates a government where supreme power ie Sovereignty, remains always with we the people (ie the indigenous Ethnic Nations), and not at all with the government that the people create through their Constitution. These are facts that must sink in.
Time and time again, we hear from those who would be called educated because they have one or more polytechnic diplomas or university degrees, saying:
“We know that the 1999 Constitution is a fraud, and so it must get terminated. We know that the NINAS Movement has got a good Plan to terminate that fraud.
“However, we shall go to Elections 2023 so that Peter Obi can become president. Once he is president, he will turn to the NINAS plan to terminate the fraudulent 1999 Constitution, and give us a new Nigeria”.
It appears that these educated ones have not (yet) read to learn what children in primary school in Western countries know, that is, it is NOT for politicians or government to make a constitution, it is a task for we the people to do.
Furthermore, to those who say that Peter Obi will give them a new constitution, is that what Mr Obi said? What Mr Obi has publicly said is that to him the fraudulent 1999 Constitution is not a problem.
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As governor of Anambra State he had sworn an Oath of Office to uphold, defend, and govern by that fraud-forgery, so he would be willing to do so again in the unlikely event that Elections 2023 hold. Later, to pacify those without understanding, Mr Obi wrote in a Tweet, that,
“The review of the Constitution will be part of the overall restructuring Nigerians desire. It will entail legislative, executive and judicial actions. Ultimately the Nigerian people will decide.”
There are several misleading things in those sentences:
- It is unrealistic to assume that Mr Obi does not know what a Constitution is. Therefore he must know that it is NOT politicians who make a Constitution, but it is the people. Therefore, his “…legislative, executive and judicial actions” is simply political jargon.
- A “review” means to examine. Since Mr Obi has already made it clear that for him the fraudulent 1999 Constitution is not Nigeria’s problem, we can already envisage what the outcome of a review by him, and those who think like him, would be.
- Since the 1999 Constitution that creates Nigeria is a forgery, there is no Nigeria Union. Having been a politician for many years Mr Obi would have a clear understanding of the lingering Union Dispute (“national question”). Therefore, he would know it is NOT any “restructuring” that is required, but a complete RECONSTRUCTION of Nigeria anew.
- If as he says, “Ultimately the Nigerian people will decide”, then Mr Obi could be willing to side with the people. Should that be the case, Mr Obi would then open up to tell Nigerians the truth: that it is NOT politicians or government who make a Constitution. He should tell them that Sovereignty belongs to the people so it is the people who make for themselves a Constitution. He should tell them that the people would select a constituent assembly of ordinary people who would make a Draft Constitution. Then, there would be a Referendum for the people to legitimize the Draft into a substantive Constitution.
Wandering about in a wilderness of lies and misinformation as has happened since the Arewa coup of July 1966 will not bring any unity. In fact, quite the opposite, as we can hear by the increasing clamour from indigenous Ethnic Nations of the South and Middle Belt to exit the (false) Nigeria Union.
The solution to correct Nigeria’s fraudulent and unacceptable constitutional arrangement has been available, on the Table, since the Constitutional Force Majeure declared on 16th December 2020. Sovereignty belongs to the indigenous Ethnic Nations so they do not need any politicians whatsoever to make for themselves any Constitutions.
The NINAS Propositions explain the realities: that the people in their Ethnic Nations, have the Sovereignty, so they are to insist Elections 2023 are suspended to instead have Transitioning, when the Sovereign Conference (like South Africa’s CODESA) that would run alongside a Transitional Government, would dialogue to negotiate the type of Union the people want, decided by Self-Determination Referendums, then the people would write Constitutions.
Has it now sunk in? Has it sunk in that Sovereignty is with the people so it is the people who have the power, the authority, and the job to make for themselves their Constitutions? Not their politicians. Read more.
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.
