The Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) on Sunday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to resign, ‘having apparently failed the country’ in the areas of economy and security of lives and property.
The YCE, which spoke through its National Secretary, Dr. Kunle Olajide, in Efon Alaaye in Efon Local Government Area of Ekiti State, said that it was glaring that Buhari has been overwhelmed by the unstable state of the economy and unabated insecurity in the country.
Sequel to the foregoing, the YCE scribe urged Buhari to resign and go home to rest.
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According to him, “On several occasions I have asked if the family members of President Buhari were around. If he were to be my father, I would have asked him to resign and go home and rest. This is because the strain and stress of that office in a country that has no institution is telling on him.”
Olajide also insisted that the National Assembly of less than 500 people has no right to forbid a new constitution in a country of over 200 million people.
YCE noted that in a normal democracy, those elected in office are servants of the people, adding that they do the bidding of people and not their own because they lack the locus to so do.
The Senate had recently said it could not give Nigeria a brand-new constitution as demanded by some socio-political and cultural organisations in the country, saying the best it could do is to amend the existing one as it was currently doing.
Speaking at the opening of a two-day national public hearing on the further alteration to the provisions of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, in Abuja, the Deputy President of the Senate and Chairman, Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, Ovie Omo- Agege, said though the Senate respects the opinion of some persons who want a new constitution, a section of the constitution does not give the National Assembly the powers to produce a brand new constitution.
However, while replying, Olajide stated that though the National Assembly doesn’t have the power to write a new constitution, “because it is the people of the country that write their constitution, they have a role to play, because as flawed as it is, the 1999 Constitution recognised them.”
He added that the amendment to the 1999 Constitution would never end because those going about with the amendment have ulterior motives.
“The United States of America Constitution enacted in 1776, came into effect in 1789, and up till 1982, it only had 29 amendments because the people sat down to write their constitution.
“They decided to cede power to the centre, but what do we have in Nigeria, the power is concentrated in the centre, whereas the people reside at the local and the state levels, what a paradox!” he stated.
The YCE, therefore, appealed to the National Assembly, to as a matter of urgency, pass two bills to save the country.
The group said: “The first one is to include a referendum in our constitution, while the second one is the enactment of constituent assembly commission that will be charged with conducting constituent assembly elections for representatives of the people which will within four months write a new constitution that will be given to the people in a referendum.”
Speaking further on why the 1999 Constitution should not be amended, Olajide said it is very fraudulent and grossly defective.