1999 Constitution, “Fake” – Wole Olanipekun

Former President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Wole Olanipekun, SAN, on Wednesday, said Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo almost punched him when he advised him to amend the country’s constitution during his administration.

Olanipekun described the 1999 Constitution as “fake” and lacking the required elements to address the various challenges confronting the country.

Olanipekun spoke while delivering the 32nd and 33rd convocation lectures of the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State.

He said “We need a constitution with a humane face. I’m a lawyer, but we are deceiving ourselves, our constitution is fake and I have said this over and over, but then you will ask we lawyers that, ‘if we say the constitution is fake, why are we practicing it’? Lawyers and judges apply the law as it is, not the law as it ought to be, so we apply the law as we have it now and we have been pleading that we should amend the constitution, let us overhaul it.

“I, as president of the NBA, I led a delegation of the association to president Obasanjo in 2002, he almost boxed me, I’m here in Ogun State and I’m saying this, he is still alive, he said ‘no you can’t change it’, I said Mr. President, let us seize this opportunity to do it.

“We also appeal to the powers that be now, to our president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu that the time for us to restructure this country is now if we do not do it, these children that we have abroad might not return home, they won’t come here”, Olanipekun said.

He described previous alterations to the constitution as “charades and window dressing” and called for the restructuring of the country.