APC Reveals Stand On Hardship Protest After Meeting With State Chairmen

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on the organizers of the planned August 1 nationwide protest to reconsider their demands, particularly the request for President Bola Tinubu to scrap the 1999 Constitution.

The ruling party described this demand as unrealistic and unattainable.

The APC made this plea following a closed-door meeting with the Forum of APC State Chairmen held at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on Friday.

The meeting was convened to discuss the logistics and potential implications of the proposed protest.

For over two decades, the debate over the need to replace the Nigerian Constitution has been a contentious issue among various state actors and elder statesmen.

The latest agitation, which is part of the 15 demands put forth by the protest organizers, has heightened tensions and sparked mixed reactions from the public.

The National Secretary of the APC, Senator Ajibola Basiru, addressed the media after the meeting, stating that the call to abolish the 1999 Constitution is a “mission impossible.”

Basiru emphasized that President Tinubu does not possess the unilateral power to scrap the constitution, as it requires a complex and lengthy legislative process involving multiple stakeholders.

The protest dubbed a hunger strike, is scheduled to run from August 1 to 15. It has gained significant traction on social media with hashtags like ‘#EndBadGovernance’ and ‘#TinubuMustGo’.

Basiru, in his statement, said, “On an intellectual basis, the meeting of the National Working Committee and the chairman of our party looked at what was put forward as a charter of demands, 15 of them. We looked at it and most of the issues raised there are not matters for protest. That is because they border on the issue of politics and the issue of amendments to the constitution.

“And we took them one by one. First, they said, ‘scrap the 1999 Constitution and replace it with a people-made constitution for the Federal Republic of Nigeria through a sovereign national conference followed by a national referendum. The question is this, who will scrap the 1999 constitution? Is it a president who is elected and sworn to oppose the 1999 constitution? Even the right of a protester to protest is predicated on their rights under the 1999 constitution.

“The constitutional amendments in Nigeria cannot be done by presidential fiat. The president alone cannot sack the 1999 constitution. It requires four-fifths of the members of the National Assembly and two-thirds of the State (House of) Assembly to be able to do so. The first demand is asking the president what he does not have the power and will to do.

“Again, they said the Senate should be tossed away, and the House of Representatives should be in place and have a part-time endeavour. That would suppose they are no longer talking about scrapping the 1999 Constitution. They are talking about amending the 1999 Constitution because the House of Representatives was established under the 1999 Constitution.

“So, presently, there is an ongoing constitutional amendment by the National Assembly. Anybody legitimately interested in cutting costs of governance by sending away the Senate and retaining the lower chamber should prepare the necessary memorandum, and mobilise the National Assembly members as well as the State Assembly so that it can be amended.

“Beyond the general statements discussed, the National Working Committee, in the meeting with the State APC Chairmen, also got to check what was pushed out by the so-called organisers of the protest. One, we were shocked that the title of the protest is called #EndBadGovernance. It signals that you are not protesting but want to carry out a revolution.

“Revolution is not something you use protests for, and where such occurs, it comes with immense violence. This is not a time when our country will require violence and disruption of the efforts done by the President and the administration. So we want to urge Nigerians to be alive to the fact that the government will not be in a position to sit and allow violence to be meted on hapless citizens of the country.”