Sule Lamido, a former governor of Jigawa state, has attributed Nigeria’s problems to the ineptitude of its leaders rather than the system they operate within, News About Nigeria reports
He made this statement in response to a proposal by The Patriots, a group of elder statesmen who met with President Bola Tinubu to advocate for a new constitution.
The group, led by Emeka Anyaoku, former secretary-general of the Commonwealth, urged the president to establish a constituent assembly to create a constitution that truly represents the people.
During an interview with THISDAY, Lamido shifted the blame for the constitution’s inadequacies to those who are supposed to be upholding it, rather than the document itself.
“If you see smoke from the chimney and it is polluting the entire environment, and it is very black and you are choking from the smoke, what you have to do is to find out where the smoke is coming out from,” the former governor.
“Don’t blame the chimney; calm down and find out the source of the smoke. Find out the problem and deal with it. The symptoms are only a manifestation of something that has gone wrong.“Why do you blame the Constitution?
“The Constitution does not reason like human beings. It cannot contain every solution to your problems. It is supposed to guide you and not solve your problems.
“The people who are supposed to operate and implement the constitution are Nigerians. Now tell me who is doing the right thing in Nigeria: From the motor parks to the schools to the banks.
“So why are we running away from our own shadow? How many constitutions do we need to have before we get it right? After any problem, we shout ‘Amend the constitution.’ How many new constitutions do we need to have?
“So no matter what you write as a constitution, so long as the operation is subverted, it can’t work. Look at the country, people are fighting each other: in the South-east, Southwest, South-South, North-east, North-west. Clans are fighting each other; anywhere you go, people are fighting each other. Is it the constitution or because of the operators? he queried.
“It is not the constitution; it is the operation of the constitution. There is no perfect human being or perfect constitution anywhere in the world but we the operators.
“In other climes, constitutions become good through the way they are managed. So we cannot run away from our shadows. No matter how fast you run, your shadow will follow you.
“On the car culture; so, if we fail to operate it like the cultures from where we imported them, then we should not blame anybody. It is not indigenous. All we need is just the change of attitudes as operators.
“Because they are alien to us, do we go to the old system; then declare the Ooni the head of the West; Sultan of Sokoto, the head of the North; the Shehu of Borno, the head of the Borno Empire, and declare the head of the Jukun; the head of the Kwarafa Kingdom.
Lamido added that the country’s challenges “lie in the attitude and character of those who operate the constitution.”
