Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State; leader of pan-Yoruba sociopolitical group, Chief Ayo Adebanjo; former member House of Representatives, Honourable Uche Onyeagocha and others have called for a new constitution for the country.

This is just as the spokesperson of Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Dr Hakeem Baba Ahmed, said it was possible to have the country restructured if Nigerians elect into office a president that can do such in 2023.

Okowa, Adebanjo, Onyeghocha and others made the call at the second annual Ripples Centre for Data and Investigative Journalism (RCDIJ) dialogue, with the theme: ‘Rebuilding Trust in a Divided Nigeria: Advancing the Conversation,’ held in Lagos, on Wednesday.

While making the call, they insisted that the current situation challenging the unity, economy and political system of the nation would not be resolved until the country changed the current 1999 Constitution to a truly federal constitution.

Governor Okowa, who chaired the occasion, said the country needed a new constitution, as he ruled out the amendment of 1999 Constitution. He sadly recalled the promulgation of a decree by the late president, General Aguiyi Ironsi, which brought about unitary system of government to the country, declaring it as counter-productive.

He said, “the decree ended up becoming the root of Nigeria’s political albatross. It was an exercise that sowed the seeds of discord in the nation till today.”

The governor said Nigeria had continued to battle with issues of mutual distrust, suspicion and prejudice, with the various ethnic nationalities locked in battles for supremacy or minority rights, saying the early attempts to break up Nigeria came from those challenges.

While agreeing that there were multi-issues facing the country, Okowa said there was the need for reconciliation, not conference to proffer solution to a new constitution. Chief Adebanjo, while saluting the Southern governors on the stance on open grazing, among others, maintained that the country needed a new constitution to rebuild the trust in every citizen.

“Anything outside that, there is no future for Nigeria. If you want to rebuild the country, change the constitution before election, otherwise it may not be possible.

“The present constitution makes the president the most powerful president in the world, it makes him autocratic,” he added.

While calling on Nigerians to interrogate why the North had more states and local governments than other parts of the country, Adebanjo recalled that the military made it so to favour the region.

He said Afenifere, which he belonged, once campaigned for President Muhammadu Buhari because he promised restructuring, but had now disappointed the group.

The elder statesman, while saying he remained a Nigerian and would continue to advocate for peace and unity, noted that he invested in the peaceful coexistence of the country more than the president had ever done.

Onyeagocha, on his part, called for a referendum to determine how Nigerians wanted to be governed, just as he also demanded for the release of the leader of Independent People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu and Yoruba Nation activist, Mr Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho.

He said Nigeria had been unfair to the minority ethnic groups, saying that the leaders must recognise them as federating units, while further calling on past leaders, including General Yakubu Gowon, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, among others, to apologise for the woes they had brought unto the country in the past. Baba-Ahmed, who said restructuring was possible if Nigerians could elect a pan-Nigerian in 2023, said the North had since declared President Buhari a failure, as they regretted voting him in 2015.

NEF spokesman said: “The North has paid the biggest price for the failure of President Buhari and nobody should attribute Buhari’s failure to northerners. The people in the northern parts of the country has the wrong person in office, because they are the first victims of the mis-governance of President Buhari.”

He regretted that the country might get worse than it is because there is nothing to show in the present administration that would change the situation between now and 2023.