Prominent constitutional lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome, has reignited calls for the complete overhaul of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution, arguing that no amount of amendment can fix what he described as a fundamentally flawed and “illegitimate document.”
In a strongly worded statement during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday, Ozekhome said the constitution currently in use was never a product of the people and, as such, lacks both legitimacy and moral authority. According to him, the problem lies not in the failure to amend the constitution, but in the fact that it is built on a faulty foundation.
“The issue is not about amending the constitution,” he stated. “I have said again and again that you cannot amend a bad document. A bad, illegitimate document that never proceeded from the people through a popular plebiscite or referendum can never be the product of the people. I have said it again and again, that even one million amendments to the present constitution cannot solve it. We are still talking about constitutional amendment when we should be talking about introducing a brand new constitution that reflects our diversity as a nation, reflects our multi-religious linguistic inclination.”
Ozekhome dismissed ongoing constitutional amendments as a distraction, insisting that even a million changes would be meaningless unless Nigeria started afresh with a truly people-driven process. He called for a complete reset—what he described as a tabula rasa—similar to a symbolic cleansing. “What we need, is a total beginning, a fresh beginning, like from a tabula rasa, like Naaman the leper that dipped himself in River Jordan seven times and became cleansed of his leprosy. That is what we need.”
He criticised the constitution’s origins under military rule, noting that it was introduced through Decree No. 24 of 1999 and attached as a schedule to that decree. He described the document’s claim in its preamble—that it was made and enacted by “we the people of Nigeria”—as a lie that undermines its very foundation.
He noted, “The present constitution, apart from its original sin, like that of Adam, of being a product of a military dictator, through the promulgation of the decree number 24 of 1999, apart from the fact that the constitution is actually a schedule attached to a decree, which therefore told a lie about itself in his preamble by saying ‘we the people’ of Nigeria do hereby make and give to ourselves the following constitution. Apart from that original sin, the present constitution, no matter the amendments, cannot take us forward.”
According to Ozekhome, the constitution’s centralised structure betrays its claim to federalism. He said it operates more like a unitary system that strips the people of their economic, political, and cultural rights, and channels national resources into wasteful expenditure.
The lawyer also pointed to the size and cost of governance as symptomatic of a deeper constitutional failure. He questioned the relevance of Nigeria’s 109 senators and 360 House of Representatives members, noting that the Senate alone has over 45 committees—each fully staffed and budgeted for.
“It cannot take us forward because one, it operates a unitary system of government, all the provisions, not a federal system of government. Two, it dispossesses the people of their economic, social, political, and cultural rights. Three, it is too heavy, on the side of wastages and leakages, which makes Nigeria today use about 70% to 80% of our national resources, to service recurrent expenditure and public debts, thus leaving only 20% to 30% for capital expenditure.
“No nation can grow like that. We are not going to grow like that. So when we are talking about a constitution like this being amended, you are really pursuing shadows where you should pursue substance. What for example, are we doing with 109 senators and 360 House of Representative members? Do you know the senate has over 45 committees? Each committee is fully staffed with members, with employees.
“We have a system where one position has accretions up to 10. Thus we have an SSA, Senior Special Assistant, after a Special Advisor, Senior Special Assistant, then Special Assistant, then Personal Assistant. Do you know how many ministries we are operating? Well over 40 ministries.”
Ozekhome concluded by warning that as long as Nigeria continues to tinker with amendments rather than adopt a truly people-oriented constitution that reflects its ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity, it will remain stuck in a cycle of dysfunction.
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