[size=14pt]Only national conference can save Nigeria (JIDE JEGEDE)[/size]
BY JIDE JEGEDE
December 28, 2009 03:19AMT


Nigeria should prepare for the worst this week,

when the Chief Justice of Nigeria retires and there is nobody to take over from him as Goodluck Jonathan, the vice president, (who is yet to resume as an acting president) will not have the backing of the constitution to swear-in the incoming CJN, a former member of the House of Representatives, Femi Kehinde, and a pro-democracy group, Change Nigeria said at the weekend.

They also said unless Nigeria convokes a Sovereign National Conference to discuss her existence, the country will continue to wallow in crises.

Mr. Kehinde, a member of the National Assembly between 1999 and 2003, said in Ibadan on Sunday that the country has remained in crises because of her misfortune of having bad leaders.

"The only problem we have in Nigeria today is bad governance," he said. "If we have good governance in Nigeria today, everything will change. We have everything - the human resources, the natural resources and the population. These are the ingredients that drive the economy.

But unfortunately, our economy dwindles because of bad management," he said.

The former lawmaker also disagreed on the strength of constitution amendment to solve some of the logjams facing the nation's polity, arguing that the National Assembly as currently constituted lacks the power to amend some of the laws needed to change the course of events.

"The only way is that we have to go back to the drawing board. We have to convene a sovereign national conference to go and determine the future of the country," he said. "I have being a member of the National Assembly and I know that constitution amendment cannot solve the problem of this country. It is not even easy to amend the constitution. What we need is to convoke a national conference. When it comes to the constitution, which is the organic norm of the society, it involves the whole system."

Mr. Kehinde said the quality of membership in

the lawmaking chambers has declined tremendously. He said the current members have shown that they lack the courage to challenge the executive, saying that has been responsible for why the nation is fast experiencing system collapse.

"Government has virtually collapsed now. It has collapsed because we do not have credible people in governance. The quality of membership has declined," he said. "In a situation where the executive and legislature dance and sing the same tune, you cannot have credible governance and quality governance."

Mr. Kehinde equally blamed the PDP for the crises created by the ill-health of President Umar Musa Yar'Adua.

According to him, if the party had allowed the provisions of the constitution to take effect, the present crisis would havebeen avoided.

Disrespected constitution Change Nigeria blamed ‘the unfolding constitutional circus' on what it said was a lack of respect for the constitution by those operating it.

It said the ‘1999 Constitution' is no constitution, does not and cannot command such respect and loyalty for the simple reason that it is an imposition by military fiat for which it is being vehemently rejected by large segments of the Nigerian society who do not feel bound by the document. There is no doubt that Sections 143-146 of the ‘1999 Constitution' amply provide for what should be done (during the present leadership hiatus). The question is: why would the Federal Executive Council and the Senate leadership bluntly refuse to obey the ‘Constitution' they swore to defend? This question exertions at us yet an older question of whether Nigeria does indeed have a Constitution that regulates its affairs and which commands the respect and loyalty of all - the government and the governed."

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