The Catholic Bishop of Ondo Diocese, Jude Arogundade has identified the Nigerian 1999 Constitution as the root cause of the nation’s problems, calling on the President-elect to work towards building a new Nigeria.
Arogundade noted this in Akure, the Ondo state capital, during a service held at the Sacred Heart Cathedral to mark the 57th World Communications Day, which was attended by media professionals led by Ondo state Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Prince Leke Adegbite.
He charged the President-elect, Asiwaju Tinubu to look into the constitution amendment or review, unite the country and ensure the devolution of power
The Bishop appealed to the incoming administration to build a new nation where every life is important, grow together, share same values with a rapid amendment to the constitution for a better nation.
He lamented that the faulty 1999 Constitution would be used for the swearing-in of Tinubu, saying the Nigerian 1999 Constitution is under a great trial because for so long people have treated it as worthless.
Arogundade said; “I don’t know how we can have a free and fair elections under the constitution that is not free and fair.
”In this country we have disagreement about everything and at the end of the day when you think about this country very well, it is not the INEC that is on trial, it is not the APC that is on trial, not even all the political parties that are on trial. But what is on trial is Nigeria 1999 Constitution.
“If we want to talk about rigged elections, you first of all talk about the rigged constitution, if we want to talk about Nigeria we will firstly talk about the amalgamation.
“It is time for us to see it that we have gotten it wrong from the beginning and anyone who is coming to the power at this moment has to begin to think about how we can have a nation that everybody will belongs to and a country that we can all be proud of.
“Not a country where some people will be killing people like chickens and government will be looking without taking any steps. This is a country where people behave anyhow and expect the best.
“We must find a way in which we can bring everybody together under shared values and platforms where we can discuss and leave together, respect one another and grow together as a nation that is what before us as a nation.
“I don’t know how we can have a country in which the citizenry are suffering and that is why we must have a nation first so when the new president swearing-in with the constitution he should be able to defend the constitution with what he is saying.
“We must love one another, we must rise up and work for a united nation in which everyone will be working for the good of other person and at the end we will have a nation we can all be proud about.
“What must be the attitude of everyone is the attitude of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has prayed for us, that we may be together as a people with love, kindness, solidarity. These are the things that can take us forward.
“We must find a way of reconciling with one another. Reconciliation must be at the centre of everything that we do from now on.
“This is only a nation in the world where many school girls have been kidnapped and nobody asked questions about their being kidnapped and we said we are a nation.”
He called on media practitioners to always be objective in their reportage, stressing the importance of the media in promoting government policies and programmes, saying media practitioners have been playing essential role in educating and informing the people.
He charged journalists to exhibit high sense professionalism and always be objective and to avoid subjective reporting, saying that the media as watchdog of the society must report issues that unites the people against issues that divide them
The Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Ondo council, Leke Adegbite, charged journalists to continue to uphold the tenets of journalism by reporting the truth and they should always crosscheck and verify their information before publishing.
Credit: Nigerian Tribune
