Former President of the the Nigerian Bar Association and former President of the Body of Benchers, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), has called on the National Assembly to immediately suspend further amendment to the 1999 Constitution so as to allow for a new peoples constitution.
The senior lawyer who declared that a national referendum has become obviously inevitable and overdue, regretted that Nigeria as a nation, and in the last years had been enmeshed in the crisis of lopsided opportunities and shared prospects among the regions, especially regarding unequal local government distribution, across the regions.
Olanipekun said that Nigeria requires a new homegrown legal frameworks that genuinely reflects the collective will of its people and their uniqueness rather than another round of amendment that is not in tandem with the needed reform.
Delivering the 13th Convocation Lecture of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti on Monday, titled “Nigeria Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: Imperative of a Sober and Definitive Recalibration,” the legal incon argued that the 1999 Constitution was a “military albatross” imposed on Nigerians without consultation or consent.
The legal icon said the current constitution had outlived its usefulness and legitimacy, describing it as a mere document that “tells lies against itself” and has failed to represent the core ideals, diversity and aspirations of Nigeria’s federating units.
“The National Assembly should, for the time being, stay action on the ongoing amendment or any further amendment to 1999 Constitution. This Constitution needs a new rebranding, a complete overhaul, a substitution altogether. It has to be a negotiated document that will pave the way for a new social order”, he said.
The Ex-NBA President added that the country’s foundational challenges stem from a faulty constitutional structure that concentrates power at the centre, emasculates the states, and perpetuates inequality in all its entirety.
He lamented several provisions in the constitution including the entrenchment of Land Use Act, arbitrary creation of local governments, and the unitarization of the judiciary, adding that the existing 1999 constitution could not deliver growth and sustainable development, justice as well as equity because it was neither people-driven nor reflective of Nigeria’s federal spirit and plural configuration.
Olanipekun recalled that since the 1999 Constitution was midwifed under the General Abdulsalami Abubakar military and became operational, he had been part of the vanguard advocating for a people-oriented constitution that would emerge from public participation, and referendum.
He revealed that as far back as 2002, during his tenure as the NBA President, he had openly engaged former President Olusegun Obasanjo on the inadequacies of the 1999 Constitution, describing it as far removed from realities of Nigeria’s plural society.
Olanipekun recounted that despite his vociferous call for a complete overhaul of the constitution, a position, he said, Obasanjo rejected at the time but has now admitted and aligned with the call for a new constitution.
Olanipekun recommended a transitional phase between now and 2031, to allow Nigeria to gather, review, and harmonize previous constitutional efforts including the reports of the various conferences, and committees on restructuring ahead of the drafting of a new consensual document.
“During the transitional period, elections will still hold and the winners will serve their terms, but with the understanding that come May 29, 2031, Nigeria will operate under a new Constitution, a new structure, and a fresh dawn.”
Olanipekun further made a strong case for the conduct of a national referendum, describing it as “a solemn act by which a people collectively speak in unison to decide matters of grave national importance.”
The former NBA President drew parallels with international examples from the Italian referendum of 1946 that ended monarchy, to Britain’s 2016 Brexit and Equatorial Guinea’s 2025 Constitutional Referendum, which recorded over 90 percent voter approval.
According to him, referendums are not alien to Nigeria’s political evolution, recalling the 1961 plebiscite that allowed Southern Cameroons to choose between Nigeria and Cameroon, and the 1963 referendum that led to the creation of the Mid-Western Region.
He argued that sovereignty, as enshrined in Section 14(2)(a) of the existing1999 Constitution, resides in the people, who therefore have an inalienable right to determine how they wish to be governed.
On security, the legal icon who reiterated the urgent need for state and community policing, criticized the over-centralized system that leaves governors as “chief security officers” without real control over police operations in their states.
Citing examples from the United States, Germany, Canada, and Switzerland, the legal luminary argued that decentralized policing aligns with federal principles as well as enhances the responsiveness to local security challenges.
Olanipekun also dissected the evolution of political parties in Nigeria, lamenting the increasing decline of ideology and internal discipline in the current political dispensation.
He contrasted ideological foundations of political parties in the First and Second Republic with fluid alliances and rampant defections of politicians in the current political dispensation.
In a reaction, Aare Afe Babalola urged President Tinubu, the two chambers of the National Assembly and NBA to urgently consider Olanipekun submission and give effect to it for the sake of the country.
