By Gabriel Dike
The former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) in the second republic, Mr. Kanu Agabi, yesterday, said the presidential system of government as it operates in Nigeria breeds dictatorship.
The former minister under President Olusegun Obasanjo also warned that God was losing patience with the prayers of Nigeria as a nation on how to find solutions to the numerous problems facing the country.
Agabi, who spoke in Lagos at the 23rd Mike Okonkwo Annual Lecture, titled: ‘Nigeria’s pathways: Diagnosis and the prescriptions,’ as part of activities to mark the 79 birthday of Bishop Mike Okonkwo, explained that the tenets of the country required radical changes. “We must make ourselves agents of the required change. And if we fail to do our duty, no one is going to do it for us.”
According to him, the presidential system Nigeria operates promotes dictatorship under the current constitution because all the executive powers are vested in the hands of one man. He said the original reason the framers of the constitution vested executive powers on a president is for the occupier to bond the nation together.
Agabi revealed that in the case of Nigeria, it is not so as the presidential system of government confers executive powers on one man and this leads to dictatorship.
The 78-year-old legal luminary said he prefers the parliamentary system of government.
He acknowledged Nigeria as a praying nation but stressed that prayers alone would not help the country’s current situation, and insisted that it is time to act.
Agabi further disclosed that the salvation of the country can only come from within, stressing that Nigeria can advance by its own methods.
“We are experimenting with a system of government and law that has been in operation in other countries for hundreds of years. We are trying to do things by ourselves. In doing so, we have often had to rely on people that are not qualified.
“Since then, we appear to have become the slaves of our own leaders, who for love of gold and silver, have taken it upon themselves to oppress the people with corruption in all its forms.”
On free and fair elections, Agabi said when political parties go into election determined to employ the most inferior methods to win, the poll would not be free and fair.
He warned: “We cannot go to heaven to bring down the angels to conduct our elections. There is little the Independent National Electoral Commission can do if those who are engaged in the elections are determined to employ unfair methods.”
He noted that the measures to take to address the situation must be drastic as a casual approach would not resolve the problems.
Agabi said to achieve good results, the medication to address the ills of Nigeria must be commensurate with the disease.
Chairman of the annual lecture, Mr. Atedo Peterside, described the title of the lecture as apt to what Nigeria is passing through.
Peterside said if Nigerians adhere to Agabi’s lecture, it would lead to the pathfinding solutions to the numerous problems confronting the nation.
In his remarks, Bishop Okonkwo said corruption has become part of the country’s daily life and destroying the fabric of the nation.
Okonkwo, presiding Bishop of TREM, said aside from the leaders, Nigerians are part of the corruption hopes the young generations would not toe the ugly part.