Human rights activist Dr. Tunji Abayomi has said that the flawed 1999 Constitution is outdated, stressing that it came into force, following the promulgation of Decree 24 of 1999 by former Head of State Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar.

He spoke in Lagos at the meeting of the National Action Coalition (NACO) chaired by Dr. Tunji Braithwaite. Abayomi, who is contesting the governorship in Ondo State on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), said what is required is a peoples’ constitution to replace the flawed document.

He stressed: “1999 Constitution is a military constitution foisted on the country in a hurry by the military regime. From legal and legitimacy point of view, the constitution is problematic. We need a peoples’ constitution. People must come together to determine the terms of relationship. The man who is removing subsidy is a product of the poisonous constitution”.

Abayomi said, since the foundation of this dispensation was laid on a false premise, it could only wobble on in decay. Urging the ethnic nationalities to unite for a Sovereign National Conference, he maintained that a national debate is germane to the future existence of the country.

He added: “It is not government that gives a constitution to the people. It is the constitution made by the people that gives birth to a legitimate government. It is not the constitution that validates itself, but the process of making it”.

Abayomi reviewed the state of the nation, contending that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government has wrecked havoc on the country. He stressed: “There is no good school, no good hospital, no good road. India is now the citadel of our healthcare. People are dying of hunger. There is poverty of ideas, mind, resources, governance, and environment.

“Soyinka said this is a wasted generation. I am now over 60. My generation has been consumed by that wastage”.

At the meeting were the founder of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Dr. Fredrick Fasehun, foremost legal scholar Prof. Ben Nwabueze (SAN), Prof. Akin Oyebode, Prof. Pat Utomi, Mrs. Amara Nwosu, Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu, Ife Oyedele, Dr. Lakin Akintola, Alhaji Shettima Yerima, and Collins Eselanwo,.

http://naija-online.com/2012/02/1999-constitution-is-outdated-irrelevant-tunji-abayomi/