President Mohammadu Buhari And The Nigerian Constitution

President Muhammadu Buhari in his recent meeting with the USA Secretary of State Anthony Blinken did affirm that Nigeria had copied the USA constitution, as he put it “HOOK, LINE and SINKER”

This Assertion by President Buhari is not exactly True. This would suggest that he has long been working on wrong information and therefore achieving the wrong results. We would therefore suggest he changes his attorney general and political advisers.

I look at a constitution as a sort of machine. A machine has several parts. Each of the parts of the machine contribute to the smooth working of the machine.

In the act of copying or so called “copying of the USA constitution”, at least one major part was left out and this is the office of the Mayor. If In copying you omit a major part of the machine how would you expect the machine to function effectively? Perhaps this explains part of the calls for restructuring of the Nigerian Constitution.

Back to the office of Mayor: from the USA experience, the Mayor is usually located in and in charge of a Big City and the office of the Governor in a small town. Take New York State; the capital is small Albany, but the Mayor is in large New York City. Take Illinois state, the Mayor is in large Chicago, and the Governor is in small Springfield. Take California; the Governor is in Sacramento and the mayor is in large Los Angeles.

Applying these to Nigeria for Oyo State, the Mayor and not the Governor should be in Ibadan. Same with Ogun State; the Mayor should be in Abeokuta and not the Governor. And so on an so forth.

So, to sum up, Buhari should recruit those who would give him reliable information.

Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth contributes from London, England.