Constitutional issues are usually ignored by many Nigerians until their rights are affected in a visible and direct manner.

However, here is your periodic reminder that the 1999 Constitution is a flawed document, and cannot work for the benefit of the majority of us Nigerians.

1. The Nigerian Constitution is, literally, a military enactment.

It was singlehandedly decreed into law by General Abdulsalam Abubakar as Decree 24 of 1999, without public input, without public debate, and without a public vote on it. This is absurd in a democracy.

2. The Nigerian Constitution is a document that safeguards the established political system and elite interests created by the colonial govt and perfected by the military govt. It highly centralises powers and functions through ridiculously expansive federal executive powers.

3. The Nigerian Constitution safeguards military legacy. It bans the judiciary from hearing cases on the competency of the military to make laws/policy from 1966 - 1999, thus preventing opportunities to address and ensure accountability for decades of oppressive military rule.

4. The Nigerian Constitution gives the govt without making it accountable. It bans the judiciary from hearing any case on whether govt action/policy is in compliance with the govt's constitutional duties, including duties to provide healthcare, education, and equal opportunities.

5. The Nigerian Constitution creates a police state by giving the unilateral control of the armed forces and police to the executive govt without providing legislative oversight and reporting. The NASS can pass laws to regulate military affairs but it has no oversight role.

6. The Nigerian Constitution limits the public participation of ordinary citizens. We can only vote at elections. There are no provisions for direct democracy: such as city assemblies, town halls, referendums, or a requirement for govt to consult communities on policy issues.

7. The Nigerian Constitution is elitist. It establishes a number of ‘executive’ bodies that do not have legislative oversight and do not report to the public. The worst of these bodies is the RMAFAC which is an elite club that determines the salaries of public officials!

7b. RMAFAC is Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission. Think of it as similar to INEC, but for determining salaries and payments of the executive, legislature, and judiciary.

Do you even know who the members are? Why do we need them? Why don't they report to us?

8. Those are just the basics of the problematic things the Nigerian Court does. If I start a thread on the good things the Nigerian Constitution DOES NOT do, we will not leave here.

Eg, it DOES NOT limit executive discretions. Look at this thread: https://twitter.com/ayosogunro/status/962265995535667200?s=20

NASS and the state HoAs have powers to amend the constitution. And they usually do so, often in their own self-interest and with or without public input.

This too is a flaw. A body created by a Constitution should never have the sole power to amend its own origin document.

The role for NASS/HoAs in a reform process should be to make one last amendment: empower govt to initiate a consultative and participatory constitutional making process. And then then the legislators step back and allow the process to run its course.

This is what I agitate for.

So, yes, NASS has a role in constitutional reforms.

But its role is to pave the legal path for the actual reform process. The current provisions that makes NASS the sole constitutional authority is just as flawed and as paternalistic as the rest of the Nigerian Constitution.

What to do next? https://twitter.com/ayosogunro/status/883371273040134144?s=20

How do we make the needed steps happen? https://twitter.com/ayosogunro/status/996795439432323072?s=20