A group of eminent individuals in Nigeria, “The Patriots” on Friday asked President Bola Tinubu to convene a national constituent assembly to produce a new constitution for the country.
The group is led by a former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku.
Anyaoku, who addressed State House correspondents at the end of a meeting with the president in Abuja, said the constituent assembly would comprise three individuals from each state to be elected by the people on a non-party basis.
He said the formation of the constituent assembly was one of the proposals put forward during the meeting with President Tinubu.
Anyaoku said: “We put some proposals to Mr. President and urged him to send a president’s executive bill to the National Assembly, a bill that will call for two essential measures.
“One the convening of a National Constituent Assembly to be mandated to produce a new draft constitution. We also suggested that such a National Constituent Assembly should consist of individuals elected by the people on a non-party basis.
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“Say, for example, three individuals per state, per each of the 36 states and one from the Federal Capital Territory and they should be mandated to produce a new draft constitution.
“We also suggested that in the bill, the National Assembly should be asked to legislate for a national referendum because as our laws stand at the moment, we have no provision for a national referendum.
“We concluded by saying that the draft constitution to emerge from the constituent assembly should be subjected to the national referendum to give the people of Nigeria a chance to determine the new constitution.
“We also talked about the current crisis of protests throughout the country. And we advised the President that in our view, the government at the federal and state levels should dialogue with the leaders of the protests.”
Many prominent Nigerians had in the past demanded a new constitution for the country because of the inherent flaws in the 1999 constitution.
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