…. Insists current Nigerian Constitution a joke
By Our Reporter
With the usual end of the year season fully afoot and the prospect of the first month in the New Year all over the country, former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, has called on President Bola Tinubu to declare N300 per liter of petrol, beginning from December 15 and extend the same to January ending 2025. This, he said, will enable Nigerians to enjoy the yelutide season with their beloved ones.
He made the call on Wednesday at an interactive session with selected media practitioners in Lagos during which he addressed sundry national issues. Fuel currently sells between N1,040 and N1,100 per litre across the country depending on the location.
Tinubu had on May 29, 2023 during his inaugural speech declared that “subsidy is gone”, thus signaling the end of petrol subsidy regime in Nigeria. The pronouncement instantly led to a sharp increase in price of petrol which has led inexorably to economic hardship on the citizens as a result of galloping inflation which currently stands at 33.88%.
Chief Bode George called on the President to reduce fuel prices temporarily, suggesting he could explore funding options from philanthropists to mitigate the cost.
“Doing this, you would be sending a message of happiness to every home during this Christmas and New Year. This is a challenge I have thrown to him and I know he can do it,” the PDP leader said.
He further said if the First Lady, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, “could donate N1bn to a university, she can donate as her contribution to fuel price reduction this yuletide season.”
He emphasized that a decrease in fuel prices would lower the cost of food items, allowing Nigerians to celebrate Christmas in a joyful atmosphere, filled with prayers for the President and the country during the holiday season.
On Nigeria 1999 Constitution as amended, George insisted that no amount of amendments would make the constitution a piece of good document. He called for the implementation of the 2014 National Constitution Conference as it has answers to all the problems bedeviling the country.
“Our Constitution is a joke. It is absolutely nonsensical because there’s only one man sitting at the top there and is responsible for everything. What we have is a military constitution — one boss. It is not democratic. What is the business of the Federal Government with Local Governments. In the US, the JFK Airport in New York is controlled by the Mayor of New York.
“What we need is a total decentralization and devolution of power, not in the form of the regions as we had in those days though; but today we have states. We have zones. States should be allowed to take their destinies in their hands,” he argued.
Reacting to the recent Ghana Presidential election, Chief Bode George said he was ashamed of what Prof Mahmood Yakubu has been doing. He said his performance in office as the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been a big joke.
“Ghana should be a wake up call to Nigeria. The issues are not tribal, not religious or mundane things but they are real things that affect the lives of the people. They needed a selfless, committed individual that is loyal to the people and they got it.”
He argued that votes results should be transmitted from the poling units to the server straight and make it impossible for intermediaries to interfere with the results, waste time and confuse everybody. He called for a good training for adhoc staff and creation of whistleblowers to alert people to any possible ugly development. He also insisted that the Presidency should not be the one to appoint the chairman of the commission.
Bode George also spoke on the judiciary, saying given the rottenness in the system, there ought to be serious repercussions and punishment for any judicial officer who messed up and found wanting .
Bode George castigated the British for leaving a legacy of two dangerous and divisive things in Nigeria when they left in October 1960 — tribalism and religious bigotry.
He declared that there is ample vacancy in Aso Rock in 2027 contrary to claims by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SSG) George Akume, that there is no vacancy in Aso Rock. He warned that the idea of “capturing states” as being recently propagated by the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Alhaji Abdulahi Ganduje, will backfire spectacularly, if he does not backtrack, reminding the nation that “what happened in 1962 in the Western Region should be a lesson for all of us”.
Bode George also tackled Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s claim that the North has held the shorter end of the stick in the number of years through leadership of the country. He said it was mischievous to start calculating the existence of Nigeria from 1999 when in actual fact Nigeria came into existence in 1960 with the North ruling for the greater number of years.
