Abstract
The issue of a Sovereign National Conference has always been a burning issue in the Nigerian media and in the public discourse. The arguments of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as well as former members of the National Assembly as to why a Sovereign National Conference is not attainable in the present democratic Nigeria are far from reality. This work x-rays the history of Nigerian constitutions making and the resultant consequence of her inability to evolve an autochthonous Constitution. It argues that the power of the sovereign people of Nigeria to make a Constitution by themselves through a constituent assembly elected for the purpose, subject to a referendum by the people could not have been taken away by the provisions in the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria for parliamentary constitutional amendments. It opines that the mandate given to the President and the Legislators to amend the Constitution is a limited mandate and is not meant to substitute the people as the repository of constituent power; it concludes that only an autochthonous constitution can salvage the country from her present political, ethnic and economic quagmire.
Highlights
A constitution in the abstract sense may be defined as a system of laws, customs and conventions, which defined the composition of organs of the state and regulate the relations of the various state organs to one another and to the private citizens
It argues that the power of the sovereign people of Nigeria to make a Constitution by themselves through a constituent assembly elected for the purpose, subject to a referendum by the people could not have been taken away by the provisions in the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria for parliamentary constitutional amendments
We have so far X-rayed the history of constitution making in Nigeria and demonstrated her inability to evolve a people driven constitution, which is acceptable, by the citizens
Summary
A constitution in the abstract sense may be defined as a system of laws, customs and conventions, which defined the composition of organs of the state and regulate the relations of the various state organs to one another and to the private citizens. The outcome of this process is further subjected to a referendum to enable the people vote for or against the proposed constitution. The legitimacy of Nigerian constitutions has consistently been put in doubt as Nigerians have consistently agitated for a sovereign national conference to cater for the opinions and needs of the Nigerian public bearing in mind her cultural and ethnic differences. These agitations as we shall see in this paper have fallen on deaf ears
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