Akande said he was advocating for the return to 1960 constitution because it allows National Assembly members to be part-time lawmakers.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Former governor of Osun State, Bisi Akande, has called on the National Assembly to dump the 1999 constitution and embrace that of the 1960.
Akande stated this while responding to questions from reporters on Saturday ahead of his 85th birthday celebration.
He said that to give nod to restructuring of the country does not require much other than dumping the 1999 constitution.
Akande said he was advocating for the return to 1960 constitution because it allows National Assembly members to be part-time lawmakers.
According to him, “I will prefer the 1960 constitution for Nigeria, it is the best! For example, in the 1960 constitution, if you are a member of the national and state assembly, you are a part time, you go 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 meeting they go to meeting and they pay them a sitting allowance, everybody knows that they are doing it in the interest of the public.”
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Akande lamented that the military changed the practice by introducing money and lavish spending into politics which has caused more harm than good.
He continued, “They (the military) wanted to stay permanently in power, they started using money to pay them (National 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, then you want to be materialistic. You become fake because you have departed from good things to bad.”
Akande, the first interim National chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), warned that “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 1960 constitution, look at present day realities to adjust it.”
