Nigerian Constitution And The Clamour For Restructuring

By Abdulrasheed Ibrahim

If you study the Constitutional development in Nigeria, you will
come across various stages such as the Nigerian Council of 1914,
Clifford Constitution of 1922, Richards Constitution of 1946,
MacPherson Constitution of 1951, and Lyttelton Constitution of 1954
which were basically the handiworks of the colonialists to protect
their interest prior to the independence of Nigeria in 1960. The
struggle and involvement of Nigerian nationalists led to the 1957
and 1958 constitutional conferences in both Lagos and London. There
was the I960 Independence Constitution and subsequently followed by
the 1963 Republican Constitution. Most of these Constitutions later
recognised three major regional governments known as the Eastern
Region, the Western Region and the Northern Region that were
respectively once led by Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo
and Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello. In the post Independent Nigeria, we
had on the ground a parliamentary system with Alhaji Sir Abubakar
Tafawa Balewa as the Prime Minister, Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe as the
President and Chief Obafemi Awolowo as the opposition leader at the
Federal level.

When there was a political unrest in the Western Region, a state
of emergency was declared in that region which situation eventually
led to the Military Coup of January 1966 that brought General
Agunyi Ironsi as the first Nigerian Military Head of State. He
suspended the 1963 Republican Constitution with its regional
structures and brought the country under a unitary military system.
Ironsi hardly settled down when he was swept away by another
military coup of July same year and General Yakubu Gowon became the
Head of State. Gowon led the country through a bloody civil war
which later broke out. In 1975, Gowon was ousted from power and
General Muritala Muhammed became the Head of State. In addition to
the twelve (12) states structure left by Gowon, Muhammed created
additional seven states to make (19) states in Nigeria. He promised
the return to the civilian rule on the 1st October 1979.
Unfortunately, General Muhammed was assassinated in a failed
attempted coup in 1976 and his deputy General Olusegun Obasanjo
took over as the Head of State. In the cause of transition to the
civilian rule, a Constitutional Drafting Committee under the
Chairmanship of Chief Rotimi Williams, the first Senior Advocate of
Nigeria was mandated to draft a new Constitution for the
country.

Following the draft of the Constitution which was modelled after
the United State of America’s presidential system, a Constituent
Assembly under the Chairmanship of Hon. Justice Udo Udoma was also
constituted to have a look at the drafted constitution for the
necessary amendments before it was passed into law and became to be
known as the 1979 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
upon which the Second Republic operated after the return to the
civil rule in 1979 under the Presidency of Alhaji Shehu Shagari
whose regime was toppled by another military coup on 31st December
1983. General Buhari became the Head of State but was also sacked
in a palace coup in 1985. General Ibrahim Babangida became the
Military President with the promised that his regime would return
the country to the civilian rule. During his endless transition
programme another Constitution was also drafted which was called
the 1989 draft Constitution but never saw the light of the day
because it was not operational. With the half- hearted and
prolonged transition programme, Babangida came up with a
Presidential election on the June 12 1993 contested for by Chief
Moshood Abiola of Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Alhaji Bashir
Tofa of National Republican Convention (NRC) . Abiola won the
election but Babangida himself annulled the election. He later
stepped aside and put in place an Interim National Government (ING)
under the Chairmanship of Chief Earnest Shonekan and left behind
his then Army Chief, General Sani Abacha to serve in that interim
national government which hardly settled down before Abacha sacked
it and took over as the Head of State.

With General Abacha at the helm of affairs ,he also promised to
return power to the civilian rule and asked the Nigerian
politicians to form another set of political parties and which
parties were later discovered to be working for the Abacha
self-succession bid to perpetuate himself in power. Abacha became
very brutal that he dealt with his former bosses in the Military
including Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Alhaji Shehu Yar’adua by
sending them to prison on the allegation of planning coup against
him, not to talk of his other colleagues including Generals Oladipo
Diya and Abdulkareem Adisa among others whose death warrants he was
about to sign when the angel of death came and took him away.
General Abdulsalam Abubakar having succeeded Abacha as the Head of
State put together what is today known as the 1999 Constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He organised a General elections
wherein Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who was just returning from prison
contested for the Presidency under the People Democratic Party
(PDP). He won the election and power was handed over to him by
General Abubakar as the Executive President on 29th May 1999.

From the above flashback, it could be seen that apart from the
military dictatorship., Nigeria has gone through both parliamentary
and presidential systems of government respectively modelled after
that of the United Kingdom (UK) and United States of America (USA)
political systems. This notwithstanding, we are yet to get it right
as a nation, There has been this argument that the Nigerian
Constitution such as that of 1979 and 1999 are military concoction
and that the assertion : “We the people of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria: Having firmly and solemnly resolved: TO LIVE in unity and
harmony as one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation under
God dedicated to the promotion of inter-African solidarity ,world
peace, international co-operation and understanding : AND TO
PROVIDE for a Constitution for the purpose of promoting the good
government and welfare of all persons in our country on the
principles of Freedom ,Equality and Justice, and for the purpose of
consolidating the Unity of our people: DO HEREBY MAKE AND GIVE TO
OURSELVES the following Constitution….” , as contained in the 1999
Constitution is a ruse. Some senior lawyers in the past have tried
to challenge the validity of that Constitution in the court of law
on that ground.

Whether we operate the parliamentary system or presidential
system, the problem is not with the system or the constitution but
rather with those who are elected to operate the system. When we
practised the parliamentary system with the three (3) regional
structures of the East, West and the North, the leaders (Zik, Awo
and Bello) who were in charged then did very well for their
respective regions. The size of that three regions today have been
split into thirty six states and the Federal Capital Territory
,Abuja and are now being governed by more than 30 Governors .When
we had the three regions there was no oil to sustain the nation’s
economy rather those visionary leaders depended largely or the
agricultural products to develop their respective regions. Today
those states governors are not interested in that agricultural
sector but rather going to Abuja to collect their states share of
the oil revenue. The purpose for which those states were created in
the first place has been completely defeated as they were created
to bring rapid development throughout the country , but to what
extent have they being developed by those governors who have been
governing them? This failure has led to the clamour by many
Nigerians for the restructuring. When I first heard of the clamour
for restructuring, I was wondering what they were talking about.
Are those restructurists clamouring that Nigeria should get rid of
the present 36 states structure and revert the old three (3)
regional structures because of the development witnessed at that
time ? I later found the meaning of restructuring as propounded by
Chief Olu Falae. According to the elder statesman:

“What we mean by restructuring is going back to the independence
Constitution which our leaders negotiated with the British between
1957 and 1959.It was on that basis that the three regions agreed to
go to Independence as one united country. So, it was a negotiated
constitution. This is because, if the three regions were not able
to agree, there would not have been one united independent Nigeria.
But because the three regions at that time negotiated and agreed to
package a constitution, that is why they agreed to go to
independence together . When the military came in 1966 and threw
away the constitution, they threw away the negotiated agreement
among the three regions which was the foundation of a united
Nigeria. So, the military did not only throw away the constitution
but a political consensus negotiated and agreed by our leaders of
the three regions in those days. When we say restructuring now, we
are saying let us go back substantially to that constitution which
gave considerable autonomy to the regions. For example, each region
at that time collected its revenue and contributed the agreed
proportion to the centre. But when the military came, they turned
it round and took everything to the centre .That could not have
been accepted by Ahmadu Bello, Nnamdi Azikwe or Obafemi
Awolowo…”

My understanding of this assertion is that Nigeria should
probably go back to the parliamentary system rather than the
presidential system presently in operation. I am of the view that
the problem is not with the either of the systems but rather with
the way the system is being operated in this country. If we have
been having the right and patriotic Nigerians running the system
there will not be any problem. Are the restructurists suggesting
that we should again have only three Premiers running three regions
rather than having over 30 Governors governing the States in
Nigeria today? Chief Falae said further: “…The regions used to be
federating units, but in today’s Nigeria, they would now be called
federal regions because states have been created in the regions. So
in the West, you now have federation of Yoruba states which would
belong to the Nigerian union at the centre. So it is not like the
region of old with all the powers. No .It is now going to be a
coordinator of the states in the zone. That is what we mean by
restructuring .And the regions would have a considerable autonomy
as they used to have….”

The problem am having with this proposition is that, if you now
have federation of Yoruba States, it means you are again going to
have federation of Igbo States and that of federation of Hausa or
Fulani states in a country that is boasting of having about 250
tribes, will those other tribes not be shouting of marginalisation
or calling for their own federation of states? Chief Falae talked
about the “considerable autonomy” had by those three regional
governments of old during the First Republic, but today the
Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) has shut down all the
entire courts in the country battling the 36 States’ Governors in
the country to respect the Constitution and orders of courts
granting autonomy to their respective states’ Judiciaries. Chief
Falae has also reminded us that when those regions of old were
functioning: “each region at that time collected its revenue and
contributed the agreed proportion to the centre” , but the question
I keep asking is that what are the States in Nigeria today
contributing? I believe the revenue being collected and portion
contributed to the centre by those old regions were from the
agriculture produces. What has been the fate of that agricultural
sector in Nigeria of today?

The rate of employment among Nigerian youths today is too
alarming .Our Governors are not giving deep thought to what can be
done with the abundant lands their various states are surrounded
with. They have refused to give thought to the advantages that can
be derived from introducing modern mechanized farming where they
could build farm settlements in different parts of their states
particularly in the rural areas to help in creating jobs for the
youths that are interested in the Agricultural sector. The
Governors have refused to develop the rural areas in their various
states with modern facilities to make them attractive to the youths
to discourage relocation to the urban areas. If those bushes and
forests being occupied by bandits and kidnappers as hideouts today
had long been brought down for agricultural purposes, would they
have served as hidden places for the criminals and terrorists? The
failure to do the right things with those bushes and forests has
created the hideouts for the terrorists where they take innocent
Nigerians hostage and demand for outrageous ransom. If those states
forming each of the old region had come together to replicate and
continue with what our great visionary leaders like Zik, Awo and
Bello had done in the past in agricultural sector, will anyone be
complaining of hunger and poverty today? We live in a country which
has blessed with abundant fertile lands by the Almighty God and the
same God is still expected to come tile the lands for us. When you
have brainless politicians and the leaders that behave like deaf
and dumb at the helm of affairs, what do expect?

It is easy to blame the military dictators for dismantling the
constitution agreed upon by the founding fathers of this nation and
turned it to the unitary system where they ruled by decrees and
edicts, but the fact still remains that such dismantling was done
in collaboration with the politicians . Have the politicians and
the military dictators not proved to be birds of the same feather?
Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari were at one time or the
other the military Heads of State in this country but because of
the goodwill many Nigerians had for them then , they were able to
have their second comings as civilian Presidents and with that, did
they live up to expectations? Whether the present system is
restructured or not restructured is not the solution to the problem
facing this country rather the solution lies in having leaders that
are patriotic, visionary and have the ability to know what is good
for the all Nigerians irrespective of their tribe or religious
affiliation. Nigerians do not need leaders that will promise one
thing but will be doing something else when they get to power.
Nigeria as a nation needs leaders that will live by example and be
source of inspiration to every Nigerian. The United Kingdom and the
United State America from where we borrowed both the parliamentary
and presidential system are doing well with their systems because
they have been very honest with their systems .Was it a mistake
that Nigeria borrowed those systems at one time or the other?
Before Ghana became a Republic in 1960 having gotten her
independence in 1957, a Constitution was drafted that did not copy
the pattern of any other country system. According to Dr. Kwame
Nkrumah in his book, I SPEAK OF FREEDOM:

“The draft Constitution is not copied from the Constitution of
any other country. It has been designed to meet the particular
needs of Ghana and to express the realities of Ghana’s
constitutional position .It is therefore proposed that the actual
Head of the Government should be the President of the Republic .In
this respect the draft Constitution does not follow the tradition
of the British model, where either a Monarch or a President (with
only the same nominal powers as are exercised today by the Queen in
the United Kingdom) is the technical Head of State. Again, the
Constitution of the Fifth Republic of France, which provides, in
addition to President, for a Prime Minister having little real
authority, has not been followed. Nor is it proposed to copy the
Presidential system as it exists in the United States and other
countries which have followed the United States type of government.
Under the United States Constitution there is a division of
authority between the executive part of the Government (President
and his Cabinet) and the legislative part of the Government
(Congress, which consists of the Senate and the House of
Representative). Under the United States form of government Cabinet
Ministers do not sit in Parliament and the Members of Parliament
are elected quite separately from the President so that it is
always possible that Parliament may be of one political complexion
and the President of another .Where there is disagreement between
the President and Parliament there is no machinery for an appeal to
the people. The proposed Republican Constitution for Ghana has been
designed as to provide as far as possible that the person chosen as
President will be the majority party in the Assembly …”

Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was elected as President of Ghana to combine
the powers of Head of State and the Head of Government under their
Republican Constitution unlike in Nigeria which became a Republic
1963 with Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe and Alhaji Sir Abukakar Tafawa Balewa
respectively sharing the powers as the President (Head of State)
and Prime Minister (Head of Government) till the Military
unfortunately struck on January 15, 1966 and the rest was
history.

NOTE: Anyone is at liberty to disagree with my
above submissions as I will surely appreciate a balanced, fair and
objective rebuttal.

08055476823, 08164683735:
abdulrasheedibrahim362@gmail.com

By Abdulrasheed Ibrahim

If you study the Constitutional development in Nigeria, you will
come across various stages such as the Nigerian Council of 1914,
Clifford Constitution of 1922, Richards Constitution of 1946,
MacPherson Constitution of 1951, and Lyttelton Constitution of 1954
which were basically the handiworks of the colonialists to protect
their interest prior to the independence of Nigeria in 1960. The
struggle and involvement of Nigerian nationalists led to the 1957
and 1958 constitutional conferences in both Lagos and London. There
was the I960 Independence Constitution and subsequently followed by
the 1963 Republican Constitution. Most of these Constitutions later
recognised three major regional governments known as the Eastern
Region, the Western Region and the Northern Region that were
respectively once led by Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo
and Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello. In the post Independent Nigeria, we
had on the ground a parliamentary system with Alhaji Sir Abubakar
Tafawa Balewa as the Prime Minister, Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe as the
President and Chief Obafemi Awolowo as the opposition leader at the
Federal level.

When there was a political unrest in the Western Region, a state
of emergency was declared in that region which situation eventually
led to the Military Coup of January 1966 that brought General
Agunyi Ironsi as the first Nigerian Military Head of State. He
suspended the 1963 Republican Constitution with its regional
structures and brought the country under a unitary military system.
Ironsi hardly settled down when he was swept away by another
military coup of July same year and General Yakubu Gowon became the
Head of State. Gowon led the country through a bloody civil war
which later broke out. In 1975, Gowon was ousted from power and
General Muritala Muhammed became the Head of State. In addition to
the twelve (12) states structure left by Gowon, Muhammed created
additional seven states to make (19) states in Nigeria. He promised
the return to the civilian rule on the 1st October 1979.
Unfortunately, General Muhammed was assassinated in a failed
attempted coup in 1976 and his deputy General Olusegun Obasanjo
took over as the Head of State. In the cause of transition to the
civilian rule, a Constitutional Drafting Committee under the
Chairmanship of Chief Rotimi Williams, the first Senior Advocate of
Nigeria was mandated to draft a new Constitution for the
country.

Following the draft of the Constitution which was modelled after
the United State of America’s presidential system, a Constituent
Assembly under the Chairmanship of Hon. Justice Udo Udoma was also
constituted to have a look at the drafted constitution for the
necessary amendments before it was passed into law and became to be
known as the 1979 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
upon which the Second Republic operated after the return to the
civil rule in 1979 under the Presidency of Alhaji Shehu Shagari
whose regime was toppled by another military coup on 31st December
1983. General Buhari became the Head of State but was also sacked
in a palace coup in 1985. General Ibrahim Babangida became the
Military President with the promised that his regime would return
the country to the civilian rule. During his endless transition
programme another Constitution was also drafted which was called
the 1989 draft Constitution but never saw the light of the day
because it was not operational. With the half- hearted and
prolonged transition programme, Babangida came up with a
Presidential election on the June 12 1993 contested for by Chief
Moshood Abiola of Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Alhaji Bashir
Tofa of National Republican Convention (NRC) . Abiola won the
election but Babangida himself annulled the election. He later
stepped aside and put in place an Interim National Government (ING)
under the Chairmanship of Chief Earnest Shonekan and left behind
his then Army Chief, General Sani Abacha to serve in that interim
national government which hardly settled down before Abacha sacked
it and took over as the Head of State.

With General Abacha at the helm of affairs ,he also promised to
return power to the civilian rule and asked the Nigerian
politicians to form another set of political parties and which
parties were later discovered to be working for the Abacha
self-succession bid to perpetuate himself in power. Abacha became
very brutal that he dealt with his former bosses in the Military
including Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Alhaji Shehu Yar’adua by
sending them to prison on the allegation of planning coup against
him, not to talk of his other colleagues including Generals Oladipo
Diya and Abdulkareem Adisa among others whose death warrants he was
about to sign when the angel of death came and took him away.
General Abdulsalam Abubakar having succeeded Abacha as the Head of
State put together what is today known as the 1999 Constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He organised a General elections
wherein Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who was just returning from prison
contested for the Presidency under the People Democratic Party
(PDP). He won the election and power was handed over to him by
General Abubakar as the Executive President on 29th May 1999.

From the above flashback, it could be seen that apart from the
military dictatorship., Nigeria has gone through both parliamentary
and presidential systems of government respectively modelled after
that of the United Kingdom (UK) and United States of America (USA)
political systems. This notwithstanding, we are yet to get it right
as a nation, There has been this argument that the Nigerian
Constitution such as that of 1979 and 1999 are military concoction
and that the assertion : “We the people of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria: Having firmly and solemnly resolved: TO LIVE in unity and
harmony as one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation under
God dedicated to the promotion of inter-African solidarity ,world
peace, international co-operation and understanding : AND TO
PROVIDE for a Constitution for the purpose of promoting the good
government and welfare of all persons in our country on the
principles of Freedom ,Equality and Justice, and for the purpose of
consolidating the Unity of our people: DO HEREBY MAKE AND GIVE TO
OURSELVES the following Constitution….” , as contained in the 1999
Constitution is a ruse. Some senior lawyers in the past have tried
to challenge the validity of that Constitution in the court of law
on that ground.

Whether we operate the parliamentary system or presidential
system, the problem is not with the system or the constitution but
rather with those who are elected to operate the system. When we
practised the parliamentary system with the three (3) regional
structures of the East, West and the North, the leaders (Zik, Awo
and Bello) who were in charged then did very well for their
respective regions. The size of that three regions today have been
split into thirty six states and the Federal Capital Territory
,Abuja and are now being governed by more than 30 Governors .When
we had the three regions there was no oil to sustain the nation’s
economy rather those visionary leaders depended largely or the
agricultural products to develop their respective regions. Today
those states governors are not interested in that agricultural
sector but rather going to Abuja to collect their states share of
the oil revenue. The purpose for which those states were created in
the first place has been completely defeated as they were created
to bring rapid development throughout the country , but to what
extent have they being developed by those governors who have been
governing them? This failure has led to the clamour by many
Nigerians for the restructuring. When I first heard of the clamour
for restructuring, I was wondering what they were talking about.
Are those restructurists clamouring that Nigeria should get rid of
the present 36 states structure and revert the old three (3)
regional structures because of the development witnessed at that
time ? I later found the meaning of restructuring as propounded by
Chief Olu Falae. According to the elder statesman:

“What we mean by restructuring is going back to the independence
Constitution which our leaders negotiated with the British between
1957 and 1959.It was on that basis that the three regions agreed to
go to Independence as one united country. So, it was a negotiated
constitution. This is because, if the three regions were not able
to agree, there would not have been one united independent Nigeria.
But because the three regions at that time negotiated and agreed to
package a constitution, that is why they agreed to go to
independence together . When the military came in 1966 and threw
away the constitution, they threw away the negotiated agreement
among the three regions which was the foundation of a united
Nigeria. So, the military did not only throw away the constitution
but a political consensus negotiated and agreed by our leaders of
the three regions in those days. When we say restructuring now, we
are saying let us go back substantially to that constitution which
gave considerable autonomy to the regions. For example, each region
at that time collected its revenue and contributed the agreed
proportion to the centre. But when the military came, they turned
it round and took everything to the centre .That could not have
been accepted by Ahmadu Bello, Nnamdi Azikwe or Obafemi
Awolowo…”

My understanding of this assertion is that Nigeria should
probably go back to the parliamentary system rather than the
presidential system presently in operation. I am of the view that
the problem is not with the either of the systems but rather with
the way the system is being operated in this country. If we have
been having the right and patriotic Nigerians running the system
there will not be any problem. Are the restructurists suggesting
that we should again have only three Premiers running three regions
rather than having over 30 Governors governing the States in
Nigeria today? Chief Falae said further: “…The regions used to be
federating units, but in today’s Nigeria, they would now be called
federal regions because states have been created in the regions. So
in the West, you now have federation of Yoruba states which would
belong to the Nigerian union at the centre. So it is not like the
region of old with all the powers. No .It is now going to be a
coordinator of the states in the zone. That is what we mean by
restructuring .And the regions would have a considerable autonomy
as they used to have….”

The problem am having with this proposition is that, if you now
have federation of Yoruba States, it means you are again going to
have federation of Igbo States and that of federation of Hausa or
Fulani states in a country that is boasting of having about 250
tribes, will those other tribes not be shouting of marginalisation
or calling for their own federation of states? Chief Falae talked
about the “considerable autonomy” had by those three regional
governments of old during the First Republic, but today the
Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) has shut down all the
entire courts in the country battling the 36 States’ Governors in
the country to respect the Constitution and orders of courts
granting autonomy to their respective states’ Judiciaries. Chief
Falae has also reminded us that when those regions of old were
functioning: “each region at that time collected its revenue and
contributed the agreed proportion to the centre” , but the question
I keep asking is that what are the States in Nigeria today
contributing? I believe the revenue being collected and portion
contributed to the centre by those old regions were from the
agriculture produces. What has been the fate of that agricultural
sector in Nigeria of today?

The rate of employment among Nigerian youths today is too
alarming .Our Governors are not giving deep thought to what can be
done with the abundant lands their various states are surrounded
with. They have refused to give thought to the advantages that can
be derived from introducing modern mechanized farming where they
could build farm settlements in different parts of their states
particularly in the rural areas to help in creating jobs for the
youths that are interested in the Agricultural sector. The
Governors have refused to develop the rural areas in their various
states with modern facilities to make them attractive to the youths
to discourage relocation to the urban areas. If those bushes and
forests being occupied by bandits and kidnappers as hideouts today
had long been brought down for agricultural purposes, would they
have served as hidden places for the criminals and terrorists? The
failure to do the right things with those bushes and forests has
created the hideouts for the terrorists where they take innocent
Nigerians hostage and demand for outrageous ransom. If those states
forming each of the old region had come together to replicate and
continue with what our great visionary leaders like Zik, Awo and
Bello had done in the past in agricultural sector, will anyone be
complaining of hunger and poverty today? We live in a country which
has blessed with abundant fertile lands by the Almighty God and the
same God is still expected to come tile the lands for us. When you
have brainless politicians and the leaders that behave like deaf
and dumb at the helm of affairs, what do expect?

It is easy to blame the military dictators for dismantling the
constitution agreed upon by the founding fathers of this nation and
turned it to the unitary system where they ruled by decrees and
edicts, but the fact still remains that such dismantling was done
in collaboration with the politicians . Have the politicians and
the military dictators not proved to be birds of the same feather?
Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari were at one time or the
other the military Heads of State in this country but because of
the goodwill many Nigerians had for them then , they were able to
have their second comings as civilian Presidents and with that, did
they live up to expectations? Whether the present system is
restructured or not restructured is not the solution to the problem
facing this country rather the solution lies in having leaders that
are patriotic, visionary and have the ability to know what is good
for the all Nigerians irrespective of their tribe or religious
affiliation. Nigerians do not need leaders that will promise one
thing but will be doing something else when they get to power.
Nigeria as a nation needs leaders that will live by example and be
source of inspiration to every Nigerian. The United Kingdom and the
United State America from where we borrowed both the parliamentary
and presidential system are doing well with their systems because
they have been very honest with their systems .Was it a mistake
that Nigeria borrowed those systems at one time or the other?
Before Ghana became a Republic in 1960 having gotten her
independence in 1957, a Constitution was drafted that did not copy
the pattern of any other country system. According to Dr. Kwame
Nkrumah in his book, I SPEAK OF FREEDOM:

“The draft Constitution is not copied from the Constitution of
any other country. It has been designed to meet the particular
needs of Ghana and to express the realities of Ghana’s
constitutional position .It is therefore proposed that the actual
Head of the Government should be the President of the Republic .In
this respect the draft Constitution does not follow the tradition
of the British model, where either a Monarch or a President (with
only the same nominal powers as are exercised today by the Queen in
the United Kingdom) is the technical Head of State. Again, the
Constitution of the Fifth Republic of France, which provides, in
addition to President, for a Prime Minister having little real
authority, has not been followed. Nor is it proposed to copy the
Presidential system as it exists in the United States and other
countries which have followed the United States type of government.
Under the United States Constitution there is a division of
authority between the executive part of the Government (President
and his Cabinet) and the legislative part of the Government
(Congress, which consists of the Senate and the House of
Representative). Under the United States form of government Cabinet
Ministers do not sit in Parliament and the Members of Parliament
are elected quite separately from the President so that it is
always possible that Parliament may be of one political complexion
and the President of another .Where there is disagreement between
the President and Parliament there is no machinery for an appeal to
the people. The proposed Republican Constitution for Ghana has been
designed as to provide as far as possible that the person chosen as
President will be the majority party in the Assembly …”

Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was elected as President of Ghana to combine
the powers of Head of State and the Head of Government under their
Republican Constitution unlike in Nigeria which became a Republic
1963 with Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe and Alhaji Sir Abukakar Tafawa Balewa
respectively sharing the powers as the President (Head of State)
and Prime Minister (Head of Government) till the Military
unfortunately struck on January 15, 1966 and the rest was
history.

NOTE: Anyone is at liberty to disagree with my
above submissions as I will surely appreciate a balanced, fair and
objective rebuttal.

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