Vincent Kalu
Secretary of the Eastern Consultative Assembly (ECA), Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko, has said that the proposed constitutional amendment can never save the country. Ugochukwu-Uko, who is also a member of Southern Leaders of Thought, told Saturday Sun that it is simply impossible to run the complex behemoth called Nigeria from one unitary structure by sharing monthly allocations to states and issuing directives from Aso villa.
He warned that Nigeria can’t survive without a fundamental restructuring of the polity into true federalism and regional autonomy, anchored on power devolution, delivered through a brand new people’s constitution affirmed by a referendum.
He expressed his worry over the continuous silence of the authorities in the face of the twin scourge ravaging the land – brigandage of herdsmen and Boko Haram and their seemingly free reign, which he said has become odious.
His words: “that state governors have found the courage to hurriedly establish regional security outfits is a loud confirmation that Nigeria is heading towards the abyss. But what is really worrisome is the continuous unhelpful hypocrisy by the central government, that a piecemeal amendment of the untidy 1999 unitary constitution, would return sanity to the land. Nothing could be further from the truth.
“People in power today, and their handlers, know all too well, that no amount of constitutional amendment would save Nigeria now, they, therefore should urgently quit exploiting our ethnic and religious divisions in order to sustain their false narrative that Nigeria can’t survive without fundamental restructuring of the polity into true federalism and regional autonomy, anchored on power devolution, delivered through a brand new people’s constitution affirmed by a referendum.