The former Governor of Anambra State revealed that rather than adopt the NCC which Gen. Abubakar met as Abacha’a successor, he back-tracked and amended portions of the 1979 Constitution which is responsible for the country’s woes.
He was answering a question from the former Minister of Information, Chief John Nnia Nwodo who complained that the country was not only moving too slow but needed to be restructured in line with the recommendations of the 2014 National Constitutional Conference, NCC.
Nwodo also complained that it took Buhari five months to appoint ministers and another five months to prepare his budget.
This came on the day the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbe, also during a Town Hall Meeting held for political, religious, judicial and faith-based groups at the Nike-Lake Resort Hotel, said that the Buhari administration inherited a bogus debt of N67 billion under the guise of procuring seedlings by the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
Rotational presidency However, according to Ngige,”the agitation for restructuring did not start now. It has been there for a long time. No democratic regime in the history of this country has been able to create states.
Apart the First Republic when the Mid-Western State was created, all other states created were under the military era. The six geopolitical zone structure is not even in the 1999 Constitution.
But the NCC recommendations under Abacha which I consider as excellent made provision for rotational presidency and residency rights. Late Abacha crafted a wonderful constitution but Gen. Abubakar back-tracked.
Instead of using what Abacha did, he went and amended portions of the 1979 Constitution which is responsible for the country’s woos.
The NCC convoked by former President Jonathan is suspect because the members to the conference were not elected. So, there is no sovereign element in the outcome of the conference. The only sovereignty rests with the National Assembly where you have elected representatives from all parts of the country.”
Defending the position of the present administration not to touch the 2014 NCC recommendations, Ngige further said: that “If by tomorrow, President Muhammadu Buhari decides to set up a constitutional conference, the Igbo should go to sleep because whatever gains they make there will not be taken away by anybody.”
Ngige then asked the Igbo to stop wallowing in self- pity over the political problems facing the race, saying that the people should “put on their thinking caps” on how to solve their problems well.
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