Throw away present constitution, Akande tells NASS

Chief Bisi Akande, the former governor of Osun State, has asked the National Assembly to scrap the 1999 constitution and embrace 1960.

The octogenarian, on Saturday, while answering questions from journalists concerning his 85th birthday ceremony, stated that dumping the 1999 constitution is the surest way to restructure the country.

Akande said nobody wrote the 1999 constitution; therefore, the National Assembly must retrace its steps on the constitution.

“I would prefer the 1960 constitution for Nigeria; it is the best! For example, in the 1960 constitution, if you were a member of the national and state assembly, you were part-time, you went to your work; politics wasn’t work then. Farmers go to the farm, lawyers go to their chambers, doctors go to their hospitals… and when it is time for the meeting, they go to meetings, and they pay them a sitting allowance; everybody knows that they are doing it in the interest of the public.”

Akande claimed that the military shifted the paradigm by introducing money and lavish spending into the country’s politics, which is not helping.

He added, “The military, because they wanted to stay permanently in power, they started using money to pay them (assembly) salary, and everybody left their job to become a politician. You leave your job where you all belong; then you become a politician, you have nothing to do, nothing to produce, and then you want to be materialistic. You become fake because you have departed from good things to bad.”

He claimed, “Until you retrace your steps back, you can’t have it well. If you are talking about restructuring, you don’t need much, throw away this present constitution, which is not written by anybody and embrace the 1960 constitution, look at present-day realities to adjust it.”