From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
President of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), Benjamin Okaba, has picked holes in the argument of former president, Olusegun Obasanjo that crude oil in the Niger Delta belonged to the country and not the people of the region.
Okaba said Obasanjo relied on the 1999 Constitution which several groups have rejected for the fact that it was imposed on the country by the military
Okaba, who stated this on ‘The Morning Show’ programme on Arise Television, yesterday, said the unitary characteristics of the 1999 Constitution which Obasanjo celebrates had become the major reason Nigeria is collapsing on all sides.
“The Nigerian (1999) constitution, which Obasanjo is now relying on, is a product of unrepresentative drafting and, to a large extent, most of the provisions therein are military-driven. So, the constitution is fraudulent, satanic and it has not served anybody any good.
“In fact, the 1999 Constitution is a foundation for the collapsing of Nigeria; every fabric of Nigeria, the economy, educational system, infrastructure are all collapsing. Reforms will not serve the situation. We need overall restructuring, because Obasanjo talked about reforms believing that, that will help to bring normalcy to Nigeria.
“But we know that under a constitution that is faulty, not people-driven but hurriedly put together a few weeks before the ascendancy of Obasanjo to power (in 1999), cannot do us any good. So, the various agitations across the country are clear evidence that for Nigeria to work, we must do away with this constitution and go back to the basics.
“And in a federation, resource ownership, fiscal federalism are paramount and every constitution that talks about federalism and does not recognise ownership of resources by the people is faulty.”
According to him, Section 140 of the 1963 Constitution, which Obasanjo made reference to in his open letter of reply to that of Ijaw nation leader, Edwin Clark, gave 50 percent of proceeds from mineral resources to regions in recognition of their ownership of the resources.