Nigeria’s woes due to human error, not constitution — Lamido

Former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, has said that the problem plaguing Nigeria has nothing to do with the country’s constitution.

Lamido said this in reaction to a call made by a group, The Patriots, who visited President Bola Tinubu and called for a new constitution.

The group, led by former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Emeka Anyaoku, urged the president to convene a constituent assembly to draft a people-centred constitution for the country.

In an interview with THISDAY on Sunday, Lamido said the flaws in the 1999 Constitution’s implementation are due to human error and not inherent weaknesses in the constitution.

“If you see smoke from the chimney and it is polluting the entire environment, and it is very black and you are choking from the smoke, what you have to do is to find out where the smoke is coming from,” Lamido said.

“Don’t blame the chimney; calm down and find out the source of the smoke. Find out the problem and deal with it. The symptoms are only a manifestation of something that has gone wrong. Why do you blame the constitution?

“The constitution does not reason like human beings. It cannot contain every solution to your problems. It is supposed to guide you, not solve your problems.

“The people who are supposed to operate and implement the constitution are Nigerians. Now tell me who is doing the right thing in Nigeria: from the motor parks to the schools to the banks.

“So why are we running away from our own shadow? How many constitutions do we need to have before we get it right? After any problem, we shout ‘amend the constitution.’ How many new constitutions do we need to have?

“So no matter what you write as a constitution, so long as the operation is subverted, it can’t work. Look at the country, people are fighting each other: in the south-east, south-west, south-south, north-east, north-west. Clans are fighting each other; anywhere you go, people are fighting each other. Is it the constitution or the operators?”

The former governor explained that it is not the constitution, but the operation of the constitution, saying there is no perfect human being or perfect constitution anywhere in the world, only the operators.

“In other climes, constitutions become good through the way they are managed, so we cannot run away from our shadows. No matter how fast you run, your shadow will follow you.”