Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said Nigeria’s problems stem more from those running the constitution than the constitution itself.
Obasanjo stated this in a letter addressed to Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Chairman of the National Summit on the Future of Nigeria’s Constitutional Democracy, held at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, on Wednesday, July 16.
In the letter, which was read at the event, Obasanjo stressed that while the constitution may have areas needing amendments, no constitution is perfect. According to him, the real concern is with how the constitution is applied.
“A nation’s Constitution as the fundamental law must reflect the history, the constituents and the aspirations of its people. It must be sacrosanct.
“From my experience in operating our Constitution, I will be the first to point out some areas of our Constitution that need amendment,” Obasanjo wrote.
“However, for me, no Constitution can ever be regarded as perfect. But whatever the strength or weakness of a Constitution, the most important issue to my own understanding and experience is the operators of the Constitution.”
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He warned that even a well-drafted constitution could be undermined by poor leadership.
“I am more concerned about the operators of the constitution to lead in good governance and promotion of welfare and well-being of the citizenry,” he said.
“No matter what you do to the Nigerian Constitution, if the operators of the Nigerian Constitution for the past one decade and a half remain unchanged and continue in the same manner, the welfare and well-being of Nigerians will continue to be sacrificed on the altar of selfishness, self-centredness, corruption, impunity, and total disregard of the Constitution, decency, morality, integrity and honesty.”
Obasanjo concluded by saying that attention must be placed on those steering the nation, not just the document guiding it.
“At this crucial time, the operators matter more, and the searchlight should be on them. When we get the right operators, they will give us the amended or new Constitution close to what we need to make every Nigerian a proud stakeholder in the Project Nigeria.”