Ango Abdullahi backs lawmakers’ moves for return of Nigeria to parliamentary system

A member of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Prof. Ango Abdullahi, has declared support for moves by some lawmakers to return Nigeria to the parliamentary system of government.

Abdullahi, a former Vice-chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, spoke when some members of the House of Representatives visited him on Friday in Abuja.

At least 60 members of the House of Representatives on February 14 initiated moves to return Nigeria to a parliamentary system by 2031.

The spokesperson for the group, Abdulsamad Dasuki, told journalists at the National Assembly complex in Abuja that the proposed amendment of the 1999 Constitution would significantly impact the nation’s political landscape.

He added that the lawmakers were advocating a transition from the current presidential system to a parliamentary system at all levels, including federal, state, and local councils.

At the meeting, Abdullahi commended the sponsors of the bill for the initiative.

The elder statesman noted that the Constituent Assembly of 1976 was tele-guided by the military to adopt the United States presidential system of government for Nigeria.

He said: “If you are talking of failure of the system, it’s unfair to say that the parliamentary system failed in Nigeria. It didn’t, the problem was that it had not been given sufficient time.

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“So, my position is that I’m 100 percent against the presidential system of government, it’s an unsuitable system not only for Nigeria but any country that is in this reckless, greedy Western world.

“Because the democracy the Western world is trying to force down the throat of every nation in the world is to serve their interest.

“And check honestly, academically, materially and so on, see what happened since 1960 till date. For me, if I’m going to react to your visit, I’ll react in two ways.

“The first level is my conviction. I’m a product of the First Republic and I cherished being that product as a teacher who marks exams from A1 to failure.”

In his remark, Dasuki said the visit was to seek the support of the elder statesman in the move to return Nigeria to the parliamentary system.

“Our target is that we can learn from implementing the bills in phases. The first phase is with INEC, even if it’s not from these particular sponsors.

“We are here to learn. What we are trying to do for Nigeria is to build Nigeria for Nigerians looking at our peculiarities,” he stated.

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