The Catholic Bishop of Ondo Diocese, Most Revd. Jude Arogundade, stated at the weekend that the major challenge the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, will face when he is sworn in on May 29 as president will be the 1999 Constitution.
Arogundade, who said the constitution was the ultimate guide a country needed to pilot it seamlessly, said it is under trial as he pointedly disclosed that there were lots of defects in it.
Speaking during a church service held at the Sacred Heart Cathedral, Akure, Ondo State, to commemorate this year’s World Communications Day, the Catholic Bishop stated that for so long the constitution had been treated as worthless.
With the theme for the 57th World Communication Day tagged “Speaking with the Heart, the Truth in Love,” the Bishop also challenged Nigerians and the incoming administration to concentrate on how to build a new nation where every life matters, as well as a rapid amendment to the constitution for a better nation.
He said: “I don’t know how we can have free and fair elections under the constitution that is not free and fair. In this country, we have disagreements about everything, and at the end of the day, when you think about this country very well, it is not the INEC that is on trial, it is not the APC that is on trial, and it is not even all the political parties that are on trial. But what is on trial is Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution.
“If we want to talk about rigged elections, you first of all talk about the rigged constitution; if we want to talk about Nigeria, we will firstly talk about the amalgamation.
“I don’t know how we can have a country in which the citizenry is suffering, and that is why we must have a nation first.”
