Adeyemi Temitayo
The founder of Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Chief Afe Babablola (SAN), has said that Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution is not a suitable one for the country and that it is also responsible for the problems in Nigeria.
Babalola said this in a meeting last week where he was conferred with the African Union Agenda 2063 Ambassador awards by the African Union Economic Socio-Cultural Council in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.
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“The 1999 Constitution is in large measure responsible for the problems we have in Nigeria today. The Constitution has discouraged and crippled development in the states. Consequently, Nigeria remains a poor country like most African countries,” he said.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria also said, “What Nigeria needs is a Bill sponsored by the government, asking the Senate to pass a law for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference that the membership will be elected on zero party system.”
Furthermore, the founder of ABUAD noted that Africa needs leaders who can transform the continent which has started in ABUAD about nine years ago to transform education in Nigeria.
Babalola who said a leader who is going to succeed in making spectacular accomplishment with the 1999 constitution would be a herculean task which the Constitution is not a suitable one for the nature of the country.
“It is a tragedy that Africa today is pained by the loss of transformational leaders such as Gandhi, Kwame Nkrumah, Nnamdi Azikwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Nelson Mandella and Ahmadu Bello,” he lamented.
Babalola, the former Pro-Chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) also said that, “For Africa to move forward, we need transformational leaders not operators of the 1999 Constitution.”
