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National Conference: Nwabueze Calls For Legal Backing

An elder statesman in Nigeria has stressed the need for the National Conference holding in Abuja to have a legal backing, insisting that with such … Continue reading National Conference: Nwabueze Calls For Legal Backing


Ben-NwabuezeAn elder statesman in Nigeria has stressed the need for the National Conference holding in Abuja to have a legal backing, insisting that with such backing, the conference will achieve its purpose.

During an interview with journalists after a courtesy visit to the Government House in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, Professor Ben Nwabueze said that a law should have been put in place that would ensure that decisions reached at the conference would be enshrined in the Nigerian constitution.

He believes the type of conference going on now is not what he was expecting.

Professor Nwabueze pointed out that it could be better if an executive bill was submitted to the National Assembly.

“I led the agitation for a National Conference because it is what we need to transform our country into a new, better united country.

“I sincerely believe this, but the kind of National Conference that can do this is the kind that has some legal framework, with the competence to take legally binding decisions, especially the competence to adopt a constitution that will be the supreme law of the land,” he said.

The elder statesman, however, said that the kind of conference envisaged was quite different from the one currently going on.

Before the conference began in March, several legal practitioners in Nigeria had stressed the need for the National Assembly to consider the amendment of the current constitution to accommodate a referendum or an outright submission of the recommendations of the conference’s delegates as a way of new constitution to the assembly.

Two weeks ago the National Assembly considered the amendment of the procedure of presenting a new constitution to the assembly, a move seen as a step towards the adoption of the recommendations that would come out of the National Conference.