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Details of Obasanjo's dummy constitution out *Drops Igbo as national language
By Emmanuel Aziken Posted to the Web: Wednesday, April 20, 2005
ABUJA —THE credibility of the on-going National Political Reform Conference was on the descent yesterday as controversy dogged the Federal Government’s claim that its draft constitution to the national political reform conference was a product of the All-Party Conference Committee on the review of the constitution.
There are also indications that the draft constitution may drop Igbo as a national language and codify the abolition of the on-shore/off-shore dichotomy in the sharing of national revenue as a constitutional matter.
Last night, the Northern caucus to the conference was meeting to take a position on the draft constitution. Special Adviser to the President on Ethics and Good Governance, Dr. Kanu Agabi, had on Monday confirmed that the controversial draft constitution recommending a single six-year tenure for executive office holders was forwarded to the conference by the Federal Government.
He claimed that the draft constitution was a product of the Clement Ebri All-Party Conference Committee which was constituted at the beginning of the Obasanjo’administration.
However, a position paper circulating among influential delegates at the national conference yesterday debunked the suggestions as it cited developments subsequent to the submission of the Ebri report as evidence of an adulteration of the Ebri recommendations. “For the avoidance of doubt, the draft should not be confused with the one proposed by the All-Party Committee, established by Mr. President, which had worked and officially reported its recommendations some three years ago and a copy of which was circulated to members of the Confab.”
"For instance, some provisions in the draft have been tailored and couched to deal with events, such as the issue pertaining to the process of local government creation and the on-shore/off-shore dichotomy, which occurred after the two official drafts had been reported,” the position paper prepared by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) for some conference delegates affirmed.
The draft in section 140 (2) provides for a single six-year tenure for the President and in section 186 (2) provides a single six-year tenure for governors. Noting the relegation of the Igbo language as a national language, the position paper exclusively obtained by Vanguard reads: "In a curious and rather inexplicable manner, section 60 (equivalent to section 55 of 1999), the draft proposes for the dropping of Igbo as one of the languages which may be spoken in the National Assembly.
It provides: “The business of the National Assembly shall be conducted in English, Hausa or Yoruba. The NA may, in addition to English, conduct its business in one or more other languages spoken in the country as a National Assembly may by resolution approve.”
The above provision is in contrast to section 55 which specifically mentions Igbo as one of the national languages that may be used for conducting the business of the National Assembly. The draft constitution also hopes to create a constitutional court which shall also be the last arbiter in any effort to impeach the President or a governor from office.
Section 148 (10) 1-3 of the draft constitution states: Appeal shall lie to the Constitutional Court, within 48 hours, from the decision of the National Assembly removing the President or Vice-President from office; The appeal shall be heard and determined within fourteen days; The President or Vice-President shall continue in office until the appeal is determined.
The above provisions are also replicated in the case of the removal of a governor. The draft constitution while limiting the duration within which election petitions shall be heard, however, provides that election petitions not determined within the given period shall be struck out.
The draft in section 311(5) states: “All petitions arising from any election conducted under this Constitution shall be heard from day to day until determined and any petition which has not been determined before the commencement of the term for which the election was held shall lapse and be struck out.”
One delegate in possession of the position paper, rebutted Dr. Agabi’s claim that the draft constitution was a product of the All-Party Committee as he said the report earlier submitted neither envisaged the legal problems arising from the creation of new local governments by some states nor the on-shore/off-shore imbroglio.
The draft constitution in attempting to nullify the Supreme Court pronouncements on the contention between the Lagos State and the Federal Government over the state’s local government funds said in section 10 (7) that the National Assembly shall prescribe uniform guidelines for the creation of local governments.
“Any local government area created in breach of such guidelines shall not be recognized for any purpose whatsoever.” Sub-section 8 of the same section 10, equally affirms that any local government area created outside the provisions of the provisions shall not be entitled to any revenue from the Federation Account either directly or indirectly.
The draft constitution codifies the political solution to the resource control imbroglio by enshrining offshore/onshore dichotomy abrogation act passed by the National Assembly in January 2004 into section 168 of the new constitution.
Upon the revelations, some conference delegates were yesterday affirming that the Federal Government might have prepared a hidden agenda for the conference which it wanted the conference to adopt. Last night, the northern caucus was meeting to deliberate on the development.
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