•Calls for people’s constitution
Constitutional lawyer, Prof. Ben Nwabueze (SAN), says the apex Igbo
socio-cultural organisation, Ohaneze Ndigbo, has lost focus and is now
adrift in the nation’s political affairs.
He blames the development on the leadership crisis rocking the once vibrant group.
Speaking at the presentation of his autobiography Ben Nwabueze: His
Life, Works and Times, in Awka, Anambra State at the weekend, Nwabueze
called for the immediate revival of the group to enable it resume its
role in championing the cause of the Igbo in the polity.
“Where is Ohanaeze today?” he asked
“What is happening to the one and only pan-Igbo organisation that can
speak for us in relation to the Federal Government and other ethnic
nationalities?”
“Ohaneze today is in disarray, split into factions
and we are all sitting doing nothing. We can’t allow this to continue,”
Nwabueze who was the founding secretary general of the organisation
said.
He challenged Igbo traditional rulers to join hands with the
governors of the South East states to resolve the problem that has
rendered Ohaneze Ndigbo moribund.
He stated that the Igbo need
Nigeria more than any other ethnic group pointing out that the Southeast
governors should take the lead in fashioning out an agenda for the Igbo
in the Nigerian polity by setting up a committee to draft the Igbo
agenda.
He also recommended the conduct of fresh elections of the officials of the organisation to make it acceptable to everyone.
He said: “The stories about what happened in the other election make it imperative for a fresh election.”
Professor Nwabueze similarly called for a people’s’ constitution to
replace the 1999 constitution, because as he argued, the existing
constitution did not emanate from the generality of Nigerians.
Said
he, “What we have as the 1999 Constitution is not the Supreme Law. What
is its source of supremacy? The military… this cannot be, the source of
supremacy everywhere in the world is the people.”
“The constitution so framed will then be out through a referendum, that is the challenge before this country.”
Source: The Nation
