A University lecturer, and Presidential Aspirant of the Ijaw National Congress (INC) Professor Benjamin Okaba, has described the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a satanic document which must be set aside in order for the country to move forward.
Okaba disclosed this in a meeting with Ijaw indigenes in Akure, the Ondo state capital while soliciting for the support of Ijaws in the state that Nigeria must go back to the 1963 constitution in order to address the cry of marginalization by every segment of the country.
Okaba who lectures at a Federal University in Otuoke, Bayelsa State during the meeting said “Resource control remains the minimum condition for peace and unity of this country. Resource control remains the minimum prerequisite for equity and justice. I believe if this country wants to know peace, we must go back to our 1963 constitutional framework which is restructuring. In doing so, we allow each region to harness its resources and pay tax to the federal government. We need devolution of power so that each region grows at its own pace with little or no support from Federal Government. It will enable some competition from the federating units.”
The lecturer while lamenting the level of marginalization on the people of Niger/Delta said “the Niger Delta is marginalized by the Federal Government. In as much as the political architecture remains like this, we are already marginalized. How many Local Governments do we have in the South South? Look at the National Assembly, how many representatives do we have compared to others? It is skewed in favor of the North. Until 1999 constitution which I call satanic document is set aside and we have federal constitution where the ideas of all the good people are considered and we recognize our strength, our weaknesses and come together and develop at our own pace, harness our resources and stop depending on oil which is vanishing. We will always have crisis”
