10th August 2024, NewsOrient, News

Advises President Tinubu To Dialogue With Leaders Of #EndBadGovernance Protests

The Patriots, a group of Nigerian statesmen, led by former Secretary General of The Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to convene a Constituent Assembly that will draft “a people democratic pluralistic constitution” for Nigeria.

The call was made on Friday when the group met with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja even as the 10 days #EndBadGovernance protest continued.

According to Anyaoku, “We put some proposals to Mr. President and we urged him to send a president’s executive bill to the National Assembly, a bill that will call for two essential measures,” Anyaoku said.

The National Constituent Assembly he is proposing will “consist of individuals elected by the people on a non-party basis, three individuals per state and one from the Federal Capital Territory.”

He listed the proposals presented to Tinubu as: “One, the convening of a National Constituent Assembly, to be mandated to produce a new draft constitution. We also suggested that such a National Constituent Assembly should consist of individuals elected by the people on a non-party basis, “say, for example, three individuals per state, per each of the 36 states and one from the Federal Capital Territory and they should be mandated to produce a new draft constitution.

“And we also suggested that in the bill, the National Assembly should be asked to legislate for a national referendum because as our laws stand at the moment, we have no provision for a national referendum.

“We concluded by saying that the Draft Constitution to emerge from the constituent assembly should be subjected to the national referendum to give the people of Nigeria a chance to determine the new constitution.”

“We also talked about the current crisis of protests throughout the country. And we advised the President that in our view, the government at the federal and state levels should dialogue with the leaders of the protests.”

Photo Credit: NAN

~ NewsOrient