Reverend Chris Okotie, a clergyman, has warned that Nigeria may implode if a dramatic political reengineering is not carried out before the elections are held in 2023, which is less than six months away.
Okotie's warning came around two months after he unveiled his concept for an interim administration and its potential to bring about the change that Nigerians want.
The priest and former presidential candidate of the Fresh Party of Nigeria emphasised that if restructuring is not started, a regime change in 2023 would bring the nation back to the status quo.
The alternative to his proposal for restructuring before the next general election, he warned, is an implosion. He restated his belief that an interim administration is necessary to ensure a stable polity in Nigeria.
The cleric argued that the presidential system of government has failed Nigeria, and should be jettisoned.
Instead, he is offering Aboriginal Democracy as a viable alternative to the present system, insisting that it’s the only mechanical instrumentality available for the crystallisation of the Nigerian dream.
According to him, “The present constitution is more unitary than federal. We need to change the constitution, and we need to restructure.”
The Reverend explained that Aboriginal Democracy would eliminate the legislature and end the perpetual conflict between the centrifugal and centripetal forces, which has created the regional xenophobia engendered by the political
On the feasibility of an interim government in view of the 2023 general election, Okotie averred that the stakeholders could make it happen if they demonstrate their patriotism, adding that it is based on this patriotic sentiment that he’s appealing to the “presidential candidates to buy his argument for a hiatus to first create a new constitution before we proceed with a new election.
“The constitution is made for the people, and not the people for the constitution.”