Legal luminary and Elders Statesman, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), has advocated that at the end of Buhari’s administration,an interim government should be in force for six months to chart a new course for Nigeria.
According to him the interim government will manage the affairs until Nigeria has “a new-look peoples’ Constitution which should provide for part-time legislators and non-executive President.”
Chief Babalola who said this while addressing a press conference in Ado Ekiti said that the 2023 elections should be suspended.
He added that members of the interim government should be drawn from among living former Presidents and vice-presidents; some selected ministers and governors and delegates of prominent professional associations like the Nigeria Medical Association, Nigeria Bar Association and the Nigeria Labour Congress among others.
He added that the new Constitution should provide for part-time legislators and not full-time legislators, considering the attendant waste of resources.
Babalola added, “The new Constitution should also provide that there shall be no salary, but sitting allowances only for lawmakers.
“It should provide a true federal system of government, instead of the expensive presidential system of government. I suggest a parliamentary system of government, with a unicameral legislature.
“The new Constitution should also provide a body at the local, state and federal levels to screen all aspirants on the sources of their wealth and means of livelihood, criminal record which includes pending suits.”
The legal luminary added that any person that would become the President of Nigeria should not be older than 60 years of age and must have a university degree.He expressed fears over the future of Nigeria, saying incessant borrowings had put the country on the edge.
Babalola, who said that the dollar to naira exchange rates free fall, as well as the level of external debt showed that the country was already bankrupt, stated, “The government is borrowing more, spending more and earning less revenue while debt servicing level is rising.
“To save Nigeria from nose-diving into irretrievable bankruptcy and poverty, irreparable economic and political damage brought about by the 1999 Constitution and its beneficiaries, a new constitution is imperatively necessary before any election.”
