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Single Term Presidency Would Have Stabilized Nigeria, But Obasanjo Rejected It - Wole Olanipekun

Posted by Thandiubani on Mon 02nd Dec, 2024 - tori.ng

Olanipekun, a former NBA President, said that Nigeria’s constitution needed to be crafted to reflect the realities on the ground in the country in the interest of all geo-political zones.

Legal luminary, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) has revealed that single term presidency would have stabilized Nigeria.

He noted that when it was proposed to former President Olusegun Obasanjo by the Nigerian Bar Association, he rejected it.

According to Punch, Olanipekun, a former NBA President, said that Nigeria’s constitution needed to be crafted to reflect the realities on the ground in the country in the interest of all geo-political zones.

He said, “When I was the President of the NBA, we originated it (single term presidency). It was one of the proposals we brought to Obasanjo as President, he rejected it then. Beautifully crafted, by that time we presented it to him, we said, ‘Mr President, for us to stabilise this Republic, experiment this’.”

The senior advocate spoke in a chat with journalists at his Ikere Ekiti hometown on Saturday evening after the 28th Scholarship Award Scheme and 5th Empowerment Programme of the Wole Olanipekun Foundation.

At the event, 150 students from secondary schools, universities and the Nigerian Law School received scholarship awards, 150 persons got Youth Entrepreneurs’ Grants, 100 benefitted from Aged and Widows’ Grants while 600 others benefitted in the palliatives scheme.

The philanthropist said that he drew his inspiration for such gestures in the fact that he once experienced poverty, and knew how it pinched, saying the best way to give back to society was to bail out those in dire need.

Speaking on the proposal by the NBA that time, Olanipekun said, “We suggested to him (Obasanjo) a single term of five or six years, not the way they are bandying it now. Our own was well worked out. We worked on it, we researched on it.

“We suggested then that there are six geo-political zones, if the President comes from the South-West, for example, there will be six vice presidents, but each of the six vice presidents must have a portfolio. For instance, a vice president will be in charge of the Ministry of Justice as Attorney General, one will be in charge of Education, one in charge of Defence, one in charge of the Federal Capital Territory and another in charge of Works.

“We suggested that a geo-political zone that has a vice president who holds the portfolio of Education will not have a Minister of Education. We worked it out, we did everything for him, and that if paradventure, a President from a particular geo-political zone is impeached or dies in office, the vice president from that geo-political zone will complete his tenure. Next time around, the Presidency will just move to the next geo-political zone. By now, it would have moved round, but it didn’t work out.”

Olanipekun, who said Nigeria needed a Constitution that would factor the interest of all geo-political zones, said, “I am still of the view that we have to do something with that aspect of the Constitution, that we have to look into it.

“The Constitution, to me, does not reflect what we have on the ground as Nigeria. We deserve a Constitution that is home-grown. No Constitution is perfect, but then we cannot be going on with an imperfect Constitution amending and amending.”

Speaking earlier at the event, Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, who appreciated Olanipekun for supporting his administration’s education and employment drive, hailed the legal luminary’s spirit of patriotism.

The governor urged Olanipekun to sustain the scholarship and empowerment programmes in the interest of society development and called on other well-meaning Ekiti indigenes across the 16 local government areas of the state to “emulate the selfless service, which Olanipekun has exemplified for Ekiti to move forward”.

The Ogoga of Ikere Ekiti, Oba Adejimi Adu-Alagbado, commended the public-spirited gestures of Olanipekun, whom he described as an outstanding, and distinguished leader of the kingdom.

The traditional ruler called on young men and women in the community to emulate Olanipekun by shunning social vices, including internet fraud, but to embrace hard work and perseverance.