Association seeks review of 1999 Constitution

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December 20, 2016 4:03 PM

The Branch Chairman made the call on Tuesday in Onitsha, Anambra at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Law Week.

Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)

The Onitsha Branch of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has called for review of 1999 Constitution of Nigeria to reflect true federalism and give regions room to develop independently.

The Branch Chairman, Mr Ikenna Chibuzor, made the call on Tuesday in Onitsha, Anambra at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Law Week.

Chibuzor said that the present concentration of resources of the country in the Federal Government would not allow for economic growth and development.

He said that concentrating the major revenue sources in the federation account would only make the states lazy as they looked forward to their cuts from the revenue allocation.

The chairman expressed support for President Mohammadu Buhari’s fight against corrupt Judges, but said that the rule of law should be followed.

He said the Nigerian Judicial Council (NJC) should be allowed their constitutional duty to punish every judicial officers or else there would be continued desecration of the sanctity of the temple of justice

In a keynote address, the former Governor of the state, Mr Peter Obi, advised political parties and INEC to earn the confidence of the masses by allowing credible conduct of elections in the country.

“It is indeed sad that the culture of internal democracy is not being developed and nurtured within our political parties which has impacted negatively on the growth and sustenance of democracy in Nigeria.

“If there is anything that will save our democracy in this country, it is the evolvement of a credible electoral process which will both entrench democracy and ensure the good governance which we all desire,’’ Obi said.

The theme of this year’s Law Week was “The Role of Credible Electoral Process in the Institution of Democracy and Good Governance”.

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