If the 2023 elections are held under the 1999 constitution, Afe Babalola, the founder of Afe Babalola University in Ado Ekiti, predicts “recycled leaders.”
The senior attorney of Nigeria (SAN) said politics has become a “lucrative” enterprise in Nigeria during a media conference on Monday in Ado-Ekiti, the capital of Etiki.
Babalola told NAN that instead of conducting elections when President Muhammadu Buhari’s term ends in 2023, an interim administration should be constituted to take Nigeria in a new direction.
He believes the 2023 elections should be postponed for six months while a transitional administration is formed to establish “a new-look peoples’ constitution that includes part-time parliamentarians and a non-executive president.”
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According to him, members of the interim government should be selected from previous presidents and vice-presidents, ministers and governors, as well as delegates of prominent professional associations.
“The same constitution has made politics become not only very attractive but the only lucrative business in Nigeria today,” he said.
“What this means is that any election that holds under the present scenario will end up producing transactional and recycled leaders, with no ability to turn things around.
“The new constitution should also provide that there shall be no salary, but sitting allowances only for lawmakers. It should provide a true federal system of government, instead of the expensive presidential system of government. I suggest a parliamentary system of government with a unicameral legislature.
“The new constitution should also provide a body at the local, state and federal levels to screen all aspirants on the sources of their wealth and means of livelihood.”
