A lecturer at Federal University of Otuoke in Bayelsa State, Professor Benjamin Okaba, has described the 1999 constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria as a satanic document.
Speaking in Akure, the Ondo State, capital on Tuesday, the university Don said the document must be set aside if Nigeria was to move forward.
Okaba also decried the marginalisation of the Niger Delta in the scheme of things in Nigeria.
According to Okaba, “Nigeria must go back to the 1963 constitution in order to address the cry of marginalization by every segment of the country.
“Resource control remains the minimum condition for peace and unity of this country. Resource control remains the minimum prerequisite for equity and justice. I belief if this country wants to know peace, we must go back to our 1963 constitutional framework which is restructuring. In doing do, we allow each region to annex its resources and pay tax to the federal government.
“We need devolution of power so that each region grows at its own pace with little or no support from Federal Government. It will enable some competition from the federating units.
“The Niger Delta is marginalized by the Federal Government. Inasmuch as the political architecture remains like this, we are already marginalized. How many Local Governments do we have in the South South? Look at the National Assembly, how many representatives do we have compared to others? It is skewed in favour of the North.
“Until 1999 constitution which I call satanic document is set aside and we have federal constitution where the ideas of all the good people are considered and we recognize our strength, our weaknesses and come together and develop at our own pace, annex our resources and stop depending on oil which is vanishing.”
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