national Think Tank body, the Gravitas Group for Good Governance, (G4) Monday said Nigeria needs a new constitution that would recognise the diversity of the country.
G4 in a statement made available to newsmen in Ibadan emphasised that in wading into the crisis that has engulfed the nation as a fall-out of the truncated peaceful protest of #EndSARS youth, there is the need for the enshrinement of a new constitution for the nation.
In the statement jointly signed by Akogun Tola Adeniyi, Ambassador Yemi Farounbi, Dr. Kunle Olajide, Ambassador Folake Marcus Bello, Professor Mojibaolu Okome, Lady Modupe Ajayi-Gbadebo, Professor Gbenga Ayeni, Chief Rotimi Osuntola and Professor Anthony Kila, the group tasked President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately submit an executive bill to commence the process of writing a new constitution.
The G4 said such a new constitution must recognise the diversity of the nation which must include the establishment of state Police, devolution of powers and resources to the states to enable the federating units order their own priorities in line with the preferences and choices of their people, bearing in mind, the national dream and vision of Nigeria to embrace justice, equity and access to good life by all.
The group in the statement stressed that the cost of governance must be massively reduced and there must be a review of the political recruitment process to allow for the inclusion of fresh and new faces, voices and ideas including a commensurate percentage of youth and women.
Lamenting what it called the recycling of those whose views do not reflect merit or the contemporary realities of the country must stop henceforth, the group demanded a formal apology from the federal government for the deployment of military personnel to the Lekki Toll Plaza where the hitherto peaceful demonstration was turned into a scene of blood by shooting innocent and unarmed young people, whose only desire was to see the nation governed within the ambit of the rule of law.
The group in the statement also called for the disengagement of all security chiefs, including the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the need for ministers and legislators to be more readily available for the people by constant visits to their constituencies, and responsive to their communications, failing which, what the nation has witnessed in the past few weeks could be a prelude to what may eventually come.
