Chidi Odinkalu, a former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, believes President Bola Tinubu cannot advocate for more power devolution to federating units because it would jeopardise the Federal Government’s authority.
Odinkalu appeared on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political program that aired on Channels Television on Friday.
Restructuring talks were a prominent subject leading up to the 2023 presidential election, which was won by ex-Lagos governor Bola Tinubu. Regional sociopolitical parties such as Afenifere in the South-West zone, Ohanaeze Ndigbo in the South-East zone, and Middlebelt groups had all requested fiscal restructuring. Their requests include moving some tasks from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent list, which would legally authorise federating units like states to perform functions like as policing, among others.
There had been strong hopes that Tinubu would apply some of the restructuring tenets, but Odinkalu said the notion is unlikely to fly because it would result in the loss of powers vested in the central.
According to the law professor, Lagos is not Nigeria, hence the President cannot administer the country in the same way he did in Lagos from May 1999 to May 2007.
Odinkalu stated, “President Tinubu now sees Nigeria from the centre, not the circumference. I’ve lived in Lagos for clearly 40 years, and I’ve tried to explain to my friends that Lagos is not Nigeria; it is Lagos. And I say this as a full-time Lagos resident. Lagos is not Nigeria. Everything he mentioned is different when you are President.
“So the idea that Tinubu will come to the post with a restructuring plan is unlikely to fly. The mechanics of presidentialism make it improbable that an incumbent President will push for the cannibalisation of power. Even if the President were excited about it, the presidential staff, many of whom would lose relevance, would drag things down.
“So, there will be two levels of resistance: one from the office holder himself, but also from others around him who do not want to see that happen. So, redesigning Nigeria from the core will be very difficult.”
A new constitution?
Unlike proponents of restructuring, who advocate a new constitution for the country, the human rights activist stated that Nigeria does not necessarily require a new constitution, but rather a constitutional settlement in which all ethnic nationalities and diverse groups sit down and agree on how they want to live as a country.
“I do not believe we need a new constitution. What we need is a constitutional settlement. The constitution is a text that anyone can write.There has never been a constitutional settlement before a constitution, with the closest attempt in 1971.But the military stepped in.
“We need a constitutional settlement to precede a constitution; to say, all of us in Nigeria, communities, ethnicities, whosoever we are, we discussed the things that matter and bind us together, the things we want and wish to have and you guys should make a constitution of it,” he said.