Can Emeka Anyaoku’s Patriots Reset Nigeria?

‘The Patriots will show the world on Monday if they can stimulate speakers and audience to proffer solutions and workable roadmaps on how to get a new people’s constitution under an elected government and a sitting parliament.’

By Anthony Kila

Lagos is set to host what might turn out to be a historic event about Nigeria’s constitutional future if all goes according to plan. The event is slated for Monday 18th of March 2024 and will take place at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs in Victoria Island. The declared aim is to get participants to examine “Lawful Procedures for Actualising a People’s Constitution for Nigeria”.

This national dialogue is in honour of the late Prof Ben Nwabueze, the outstanding scholar and legal luminary that was buried in February 2024 and it is convened by a group of eminent Nigerians known as the Patriots.

Prof Ben Nwabueze was the chairman of the Patriots and before him the group was led by the late Chief Rotimi Williams, another distinguished legal luminary. The Patriots are currently led by Chief Emeka Anyaoku, the former Secretary General of Commonwealth.

Members of the group reads like a “who is who” list in a Nigerian academic and socio-political reference book. Think of names like General Ike Nwachukwu, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi, Elder Solomon Asemota, Prof Itse Sagay, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw, Prof Adenike Grange, Senator Ben Obi, Obong Victor Attah, Dr Kalu I. Kalu, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, Mallam Yusuf Ali, Dr Olisa Agbakoba and Prof Pat Utomi just to mention a few.

I have had the privilege of attending meetings of the Patriots in Lagos and beyond the content of the conversations, the gathering is always a place to renew my fascination with the exceptional commitment, diligence and dedication displayed by these personalities. Very often, I have seen people come directly from the airport and return directly to the airport after the meeting.

In announcing the event, the chair of the Patriots, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, in his very distinct baritone voice and clear diction, made it clear to the world that the event has been conceived to coincide with the 10th year anniversary of the held but unimplemented national conference of Nigeria inaugurated on 17th March, 2014 by the then President Goodluck Jonathan.

It must be said here that the Patriots were key to the convocation of that national conference 10 years ago. The Patriots chair also made it clear that the essence of this national dialogue is to bring together national leaders of thoughts from all parts of the country, statesmen, scholars, legal experts, allies of the Patriots and friends of Nigeria across the world.

Names of the expected speakers at the 2024 dialogue allows one to be confident that the Patriots are up to something big again. Those billed to speak include Chief Afe Babalola, Obong Victor Attah, General Ike Nwachukwu, Elder Solomon Asemota, Prof Mike Ozekhome, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, Dr. Kalu I Kalu, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed and a host of others.

Many of those billed to speak were also part of the conception of or deliberations at the national conference that took place 10 years ago, so they know or should know what they will be talking about in Lagos on Monday 18th March 2024. The new step is to find a way to actualize a people constitution for the country, and therein lies the rub.

It is clear that the Patriots believe that the current constitution and structure of the country are in large part responsible for the woes the country is facing, it is also clear that they believe that the best way out of the current debilitating quagmire is to move away from the current constitution bestowed by the military and to move towards a people’s constitution.

The “How to do it” is what the Patriots want to offer Nigeria. There is more than a bit of optimism and even confidence in their view and attempt. I have noticed that the Chair of the Patriots and indeed all the members I have spoken to insist on using the phrase “lawful procedures” in their conversations. It is not so surprising at all, after all, these are all statesmen and even elderly men and women who mostly have always been moderate in their political views and prudent in their personal lives.

Moderate or lawful as they want to be though, fact is that these people are trying to reset Nigeria and if they succeed in doing so things will never be the same in the country again. The question is “can they?” We can only know during and after the event. The issues and people that have not allowed the implementation of the last national conference are still standing and active. It is a matter of vision, interest, capacity that form the will.

The Patriots will show the world on Monday if they can stimulate speakers and audience to proffer solutions and workable roadmaps on how to get a new people’s constitution under an elected government and a sitting parliament. Their ideas I am sure will reverberate beyond the shores of Nigeria. The Patriots will show the world after Monday’s event if they can sustain the conversation and build wider alliances across regions and socio-political sectors of the country.

Those who have seen the Patriots operate will know how they can be patient but persevering and persuasive. I have seen the Patriots deliberate and operate and they remind me a lot of the very early Fabian Society that chose the name of the Roman General Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, also called “Cunctator” (roughly translatable as the “delayer”).

Let’s be clear, the society chose to be Fabian not because they were slow but because they chose a strategy of avoiding direct confrontation but deploying reason and progressive policies. Two members of the Fabian Society outside the UK were Jawaharlal Nehru of India and Chief Obafemi Awolowo of Nigeria.

The event of Monday is a good test to see how far Chief Emeka Anyaoku’s Patriot can go. I will be there.

* Anthony Kila is Institute Director at CIAPS. www.ciaps.org.