By Samuel Ogenyi, Uyo
Former Governor of Akwa Ibom, Obong Victor Attah has called for the scrapping of the Presidential system of government in Nigeria saying it remained oppressive, with Nigerians not mentally prepared for it.
Attah told newsmen on Wednesday in Uyo that the #EndSARS protests ravaging Nigeria has to do with the foundational problem of leadership and governance in Nigeria.
Attah who made a case for a parliamentary system of government said that the Presidential system of government reminded very expensive and wasteful for a growing economy like Nigeria.
He stated that the country needed a a rebirth, adding that the presidential system of government in Nigeria has remained the cause of her failure.
“It goes beyond governance. If you bring angels, (and I’m not blaspheming) to operate the system we have today, it would fail. The system is one that cannot succeed.
“I call it rebirth. I want Nigeria to be reborn. Let’s give it a new birth, let it become what it was always supposed to be: a federal system and preferably, I say preferably because some people still feel enamoured with this Presidential system, I am not.
“The presidential system has become very oppressive. It seems it is in our nature to feel once you win an election, you are a conqueror, so you behave exactly as you please, nobody can talk to you, you don’t have to see anybody and that’s what is happening and we abuse it.
“I read a few days ago, ‘The North wants Jonathan to come back and complete his tenure. Nobody had tenure. The constitution says yes, you can have two terms, it’s only if the people want you back. It does not mean that once elected, you have two tenures, so if you didn’t have the second one, you didn’t complete your tenure, you should come back and complete it.
“That’s why I say we are not mentally prepared for this presidential system. We are not ready; that’s one of the reasons I say scrap it, go back to the parliamentary system. In the parliamentary system, if you have a good prime minister like Britain had Margaret Thatcher, you can come back four or five times if your people want you back.
“You are a Prime Minister because you are elected from your small enclave and the whole country sees that you are good, and they insist you become prime minister. That system is what suits us now.” He explained.
Attah said that the parliamentary system would allow the people choose their representatives based on performance and not selection on party basis or godfatherism, adding that it would also solve the problem of tenure entitlement.
He added that the country was better off when she operated four constitutions with each of the three regions having their own and one national constitution, adding that the regions did not feel cheated because they generated their own income and lived on what they were able to generate.
“The South-South/East was known for it oil palm industry, the Ijaws for mining, the West for their cocoa, and the North their groundnut, and Nigeria remained one because her leaders choose to keep the then regions before the country became independent in 1960.” He said.
