{"id":120776,"date":"2025-07-18T17:09:21","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T16:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=120776"},"modified":"2025-07-18T17:09:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T16:09:21","slug":"patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots Demand New Constitution, State Police, Others"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Lizzy Chirkpi<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a move to overhaul Nigeria\u2019s governance structure, elder statesmen, intellectuals, and civil society leaders under the banner of the Eminent Patriots of Nigeria have issued a clarion call for a people-driven constitution that reflects Nigeria\u2019s diversity and democratic aspirations.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meeting at a National Constitutional Summit in Abuja, the group unanimously rejected the 1999 Constitution (as amended), describing it as a military-imposed document lacking legitimacy and relevance in today\u2019s democratic landscape.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Reading from the summit\u2019s communiqu\u00e9, Chairman and former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, said delegates advocated a complete restructuring of Nigeria\u2019s political system to address what they described as chronic dysfunction rooted in the nation\u2019s current constitutional framework.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;The Summit agreed that the 1999 Constitution (as amended) is deeply flawed and unrepresentative in that it was not made by the people and is inadequate for addressing the country&#8217;s pluralism and the various challenges confronting Nigeria as a nation,&#8221; Anyaoku declared.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The group also urged President Bola Tinubu to sponsor an Executive Bill empowering the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct elections into a non-partisan Constituent Assembly, comprising elected delegates and representatives of key interest groups. This assembly, they said, would be responsible for drafting a new constitution to be subjected to a national referendum.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;This Assembly shall be made up of delegates elected on non-partisan basis as well as representatives of special interest groups,&#8221; Anyaoku explained.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;It will midwife a people\u2019s democratic constitution that will be submitted to a referendum before presidential assent.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A recurring theme at the summit was the need to decentralize power and establish true federalism, returning autonomy to federating units akin to the First Republic.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;The current political reality is that too much power is concentrated at the centre. Quite enormous powers are currently concentrated in the presidency,&#8221; the communiqu\u00e9 read.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;The Summit recommends the devolution of powers to the federating units and a cost-effective single-chamber legislature.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The delegates advocated replacing the present presidential system with a more affordable, less centralized structure. The group also recommended that Nigeria\u2019s six geopolitical zones be given formal constitutional recognition to support a more equitable federal balance.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">To tackle growing insecurity, it further called for a legislative framework to enable the establishment of state police, stressing the inadequacy of a centrally controlled security system.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They further proposed reforms to the judicial structure, including separating the roles of Attorney-General and Minister of Justice at the federal level and similarly at the state level in order to promote independence and professionalism.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;Each federating unit should have its own courts up to the Court of Appeal, while the Supreme Court handles only major constitutional and intergovernmental disputes,&#8221; the communiqu\u00e9 stated.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a nod to international best practices, the group also demanded that all elections be conducted in a single day, citing models like Brazil and Ghana as examples of efficient and fraud-resistant electoral systems.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The group also pressed for amendments to the Electoral Act to make BVAS and electronic transmission of results mandatory. Other key proposals included provisions for independent candidacy and stricter anti-defection laws.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;Once a person is elected on the platform of a political party, he or she shall not defect to another political party till the tenure is over&#8230; such seat shall automatically and unconditionally be declared vacant,&#8221; the communiqu\u00e9 insisted.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Reaffirming Nigeria\u2019s pluralistic makeup, the Summit emphasized the importance of protecting the secular nature of the state.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;Given her pluralism, Nigeria shall in perpetuity remain a secular state. Both the central and the sub-national governments shall do nothing to detract from this secularity.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Eminent Patriots painted a picture of Nigeria at a constitutional crossroads. Their proposals, far-reaching and ambitious, reflect a deep frustration with the status quo and a desire to reimagine the federation in line with democratic norms and national realities.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cCost-cutting is a time-tested solution to bankruptcy,\u201d they argued. \u201cThe present pseudo-federal system is too large and unmanageable. It takes so much to run, while the result is over-bloated bureaucracies and political structures.\u201d<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lizzy Chirkpi In a move to overhaul Nigeria\u2019s governance structure, elder statesmen, intellectuals, and civil society leaders under the banner of the Eminent Patriots of Nigeria have issued a&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":113774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Patriots Demand New Constitution, State Police, Others - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Patriots Demand New Constitution, State Police, Others - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Lizzy Chirkpi In a move to overhaul Nigeria\u2019s governance structure, elder statesmen, intellectuals, and civil society leaders under the banner of the Eminent Patriots of Nigeria have issued a&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-18T16:09:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Emeka-Anyaoku.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"headline\":\"Patriots Demand New Constitution, State Police, Others\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-18T16:09:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/\"},\"wordCount\":677,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Emeka-Anyaoku.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/\",\"name\":\"Patriots Demand New Constitution, State Police, Others - Pointblank News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Emeka-Anyaoku.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-18T16:09:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Emeka-Anyaoku.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Emeka-Anyaoku.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":683},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Patriots Demand New Constitution, State Police, Others\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\",\"name\":\"Pointblank News\",\"description\":\"Just the news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\",\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Our Reporter\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Patriots Demand New Constitution, State Police, Others - Pointblank News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Patriots Demand New Constitution, State Police, Others - Pointblank News","og_description":"By Lizzy Chirkpi In a move to overhaul Nigeria\u2019s governance structure, elder statesmen, intellectuals, and civil society leaders under the banner of the Eminent Patriots of Nigeria have issued a&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/","og_site_name":"Pointblank News","article_published_time":"2025-07-18T16:09:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Emeka-Anyaoku.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Our Reporter","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Our Reporter","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/"},"author":{"name":"Our Reporter","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"headline":"Patriots Demand New Constitution, State Police, Others","datePublished":"2025-07-18T16:09:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/"},"wordCount":677,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Emeka-Anyaoku.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/","name":"Patriots Demand New Constitution, State Police, Others - Pointblank News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Emeka-Anyaoku.jpg","datePublished":"2025-07-18T16:09:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Emeka-Anyaoku.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Emeka-Anyaoku.jpg","width":1024,"height":683},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/patriots-demand-new-constitution-state-police-others\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Patriots Demand New Constitution, State Police, Others"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/","name":"Pointblank News","description":"Just the news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c","name":"Our Reporter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Our Reporter"},"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120776"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120777,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120776\/revisions\/120777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}