A former Governor of Akwa-Ibom State, Victor Attah, has faulted Nigeria’s current political structure, saying that the country cannot achieve peace or stability without a constitution truly fashioned by its people.
Attah stated this on Thursday when he featured in an interview on Arise Television.
Speaking on the ongoing controversies around the state of emergency in Rivers and wider national politics, Attah stressed that governance in Nigeria has strayed far from democratic principles.
“What is the governor? Who is the governor expected to serve? An elected person is expected to serve the people who elected him. But today, governors are bound by agreements and undertakings, not the will of the people. It makes nonsense of the office of a governor,” he said.
The ex-Akwa-Ibom governor also said the 1999 constitution, which still guides Nigeria, was imposed by the military and not by consensus among Nigerians, emphasising that the last time the people sat together to determine their own constitution was in 1963.
“Nigerians didn’t make the present constitution. It was literally dictated by the military,” he added.
