June 12: New constitution possible before 2027 – Afenifere

A pan-Yoruba sociopolitical group, Afenifere, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the broader Nigerian political class to prioritise restructuring the country, insisting that a new constitution could be achieved before the 2027 general elections.

The Afenifere leader, Oba Oladipo Olaitan, in a statement commemorating the anniversary of the June 12, 1993 presidential election widely regarded as Nigeria’s freest and fairest poll, described the current democratic structure as a “pseudo democracy” and said only a holistic reconfiguration of the polity could heal the lingering wounds of June 12.

“Another anniversary confirming that June 12, 1993 evidently happened to Nigeria is here again. Chief M.K.O. Abiola and his pan-Nigerian mandate were killed by the self-serving political wing of the military and their collaborators. Very many innocent lives were lost,” the statement by the group noted.

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Afenifere noted that since the annulment of the 1993 presidential election, Nigeria had grappled with injustice, growing insecurity and increasing discontent among its ethnic nationalities. It stated that the country had remained a “mere geographical expression” since the 1914 amalgamation and must be restructured into a true federation to move forward.

“There must be a fundamental shift away from the ‘winner-takes-all, buy-and-sell modality of capturing political power. A new governance framework to be embodied in a new constitutional order is the silver bullet that will likely restore order to what we all know as a mere geographical territory,” the statement added.

The group decried what it described as the “unbridled latitude” of the Nigerian presidency under the 1999 Constitution, noting that the office has become too powerful and expensive to maintain.

According to the group, Nigeria’s current governance structure is unsustainable, pointing to the ballooning national debt and a recurrent expenditure that gulps nearly 80 per cent of the national budget.

“It is no longer sustainable to maintain the large paraphernalia of office and bureaucracy at the expense of the masses. A new constitution has become the irreducible minimum to guarantee the shift of emphasis towards rapid infrastructural development to the benefit of ordinary citizens,” Afenifere stated, insisting that it is still possible to adopt a new constitution before the next general elections.