Sule Lamido, a former governor of Jigawa state, says Nigeria’s woes stem from its leaders, and not the country’s constitution.
Lamido said this in reaction to a call by The Patriots, a group of elder statesmen who visited President Bola Tinubu and canvassed for a new constitution.
Emeka Anyaoku, former secretary-general of the Commonwealth, who led the group, had urged the president to convene a constituent assembly to draft a people-centred constitution for the country.
In an interview with THISDAY on Sunday, Lamido said the flaws in the 1999 Constitution’s implementation are a result of human error, not inherent weaknesses in the constitution.
“If you see smoke from the chimney and it is polluting the entire environment, and it is very black and you are choking from the smoke, what you have to do is to find out where the smoke is coming out from,” the former governor said.
“Don’t blame the chimney; calm down and find out the source of the smoke. Find out the problem and deal with it. The symptoms are only a manifestation of something that has gone wrong. Why do you blame the constitution?
“The constitution does not reason like human beings. It cannot contain every solution to your problems. It is supposed to guide you and not solve your problems.
“The people who are supposed to operate and implement the constitution are Nigerians. Now tell me who is doing the right thing in Nigeria: From the motor parks to the schools to the banks.
“So why are we running away from our own shadow? How many constitutions do we need to have before we get it right? After any problem, we shout ‘amend the constitution.’ How many new constitutions do we need to have?
“So no matter what you write as a constitution, so long as the operation is subverted, it can’t work. Look at the country, people are fighting each other: in the south-east, south-west, south-south, north-east, north-west. Clans are fighting each other; anywhere you go, people are fighting each other. Is it the constitution or because of the operators?
“It is not the constitution; it is the operation of the constitution. There is no perfect human being or perfect constitution anywhere in the world but we the operators.
“In other climes, constitutions become good through the way they are managed. So we cannot run away from our shadows. No matter how fast you run, your shadow will follow you.”
Lamido added that the country’s challenges “lie in the attitude and character of those who operate the constitution”.