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Afenifere criticizes constitutional review as “cosmetic”, “unrealistic”
Dr. Akin Fapohunda, the Director of Research for the Afenifere Group, has harshly criticized the Federal Government’s ongoing constitutional amendment process, labelling it as “cosmetic,” “unrealistic,” and “a waste of national energy.”
Appearing on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Wednesday, Dr. Fapohunda argued that the government’s plan to amend the constitution in approximately 74 places and alter 83 clauses within a six-month period is unworkable and shows a lack of serious intent to resolve Nigeria’s deep-rooted structural issues.
READ ALSO: Afenifere to Tinubu: You’ve failed woefully, 2027 not for you
He questioned the practicality of the plan, stating: “What the Federal Government wants to do is to amend the Constitution in about 74 places, change 83 clauses. Do they have the capacity to do that in the next six months before the next election?” he asked. “Do the 36 state assemblies have the brain to process 70-something bills in the next 3–6 months? The whole system is just headed for the garbage can. You cannot do it.”
Last month, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, hinted at the process during a National Public Hearing held in Abuja to review the 1999 Constitution.
“Today in Abuja, we held the National Public Hearing on the Review of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Our proposals reflect Nigeria’s diversity and complexity, but few are as transformative as those promoting inclusive governance,” Abbas tweeted on his personal X handle.
Abbas committed that the House would make every effort to successfully amend the constitution, following failed attempts by previous assemblies.
He stated: “As Speaker, I pledge that we will take your contributions seriously and consider the bills with diligence, fairness, and urgency,” he stated.
“We will engage the State Assemblies respectfully and transparently to secure their concurrence.
“We would continue to work with the executive and with you, the people, to ensure that the amendment process proceeds smoothly,” he said.
However, Dr. Fapohunda further accused political elites of using the process for their personal gain. He suggested proposals, such as the creation of 46 new states, are primarily motivated by a desire for new security votes and increased access to public funds.
He commented on the motives: “They want to create 46 new states so there will be security votes for the governors; there will be money to buy SUVs, all of them want to be governors in these states,” he stated. “Maybe I’m being uncharitable, but they’ve given us enough reason to believe they are not serious. The little things they are putting there are just cosmetics; they are of no use.”
He also rejected the idea of state police under the current structure, arguing that Nigeria requires full decentralisation instead.
“What is state police? The call needs to be decentralized entirely,” he said.
Dr. Fapohunda then presented a practical roadmap for meaningful reform, outlining four fundamental constitutional changes that he believes could “transform Nigeria radically within six months.”
He explained his primary proposal: “The first thing is to codify a true federal constitution, separate the Abuja constitution from the second tier of government. We must have two distinct constitutions,” he explained.
“The six geopolitical zones should serve as the second-tier base of governance, each with its own constitution reflecting its peculiarities.”
He added that the existing 68 items on the Exclusive Legislative List should be reduced to 12, with the remaining 46 items being devolved to the geopolitical zones.
He outlined the next steps: “After that, we can set up a referendum panel and present the draft before Nigerians for discussion within three to four months,” he said. “Abuja has no business with roads, schools, or hospitals, only with foreign relations, passports, and currency. Even the military structure should be decentralised across the geopolitical zones.”
According to him, these reforms would ease tensions, empower the regions to manage their resources, and restore balance to the federal structure.
He concluded: “Once that happens, the temperature will drop. The North will control their gold, the South-West their IT, the South-South their oil, and people will stop fighting to control Abuja,” he said.
Dr. Fapohunda concluded by stating that President Bola Tinubu’s current governing approach is flawed, asserting that “he is pretending to run Nigeria just from Abuja,” instead of promoting genuine federalism that empowers all regions equally.
Justice Muhammad Nuraddeen Bello of High Court sitting in Sokoto State has sentenced three men, including a foreign national, to death by hanging, after convicting them on charges bordering on terrorism and arms proliferation.
The convicts, Yusuf Muhammad (alias Sallau), a Nigerien; Jabbi Alhaji Yalle; and Kabiru Muhammad, were apprehended on 13th June, 2025, by the Department of State Services (DSS) Counter Terrorism Unit in connection with cross-border criminal activities bordering on arms trafficking and terrorism.
Bello, who found all three defendants guilty as charged and sentenced them to death by hanging, while also ordering the forfeiture of all monetary exhibits recovered from the convicts to the Federal Government, said: “The conviction is the latest in a series of successful prosecutions by the DSS in its sustained operations against terrorism and organised cross-border criminal networks across Nigeria.”
The sentencing is coming about two weeks after the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja sentenced each of the five suspects arrested on May 31, 2026, by the DSS for their involvement in the November 21, 2025, attack on St Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, Niger State, to 25 years’ imprisonment.
Justice Binta Nyako, had handed down the judgment after the men, including two Nigeriens, pleaded guilty to all four terrorism-related charges, bordering on support for the commission of an act of terrorism, breaching both Section 16 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and the Firearms Act, were pressed against them.
According to Count One, the men were accused of jointly conspiring to assist a terrorist by agreeing and intentionally playing various roles towards conveying 15 AK 103 rifles as well as about 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition from the Diffa region, Republic of Niger, to one Malam Ahmad, a member of the Boko Haram terrorist group based in Borgu, Niger State, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 26(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Primate Elijah Ayodele, is on the verge of coughing out a whopping N10billion, if he fails to offer unrestrained apology to Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former Governor of Kano State within the next 24 hours, and retract his claim that the former Minister of Defence is bidding his time to betray Peter Obi, to whom he is to contest the 2027 presidential election as a running mate.
Without doing so, the controversial cleric, should be ready for a major court battle with the vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), the platform on which the pair is to contest the election.
In a letter indicating a legal action against Ayodele of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church over defamatory remarks, Kwankwaso, through Magaji Mato Ibrahim, SAN & Co., his lawyers demanded an immediate retraction and apology from the cleric over the allegations.
Details of the letter, dated June 11, and unveiled through the X platform of the legal team, was based on a viral video recorded during a live-streamed church service, where the preacher made allegations targeting Kwankwaso’s integrity as Peter Obi’s running mate under the NDC.
Quoting the cleric as stating: “KWANKWASO IS A FAKE TO OBI, KWANKWASO WILL BETRAY YOU. KWANKWASO HAS BEEN PAID TO BE VICE PRESIDENT TO OBI AMONG OTHER LIBELOUS COMMENTS WHILE PRETENDING TO BE A PREACHER,” the former governor said the comments were unprovoked, grossly unfounded, and carefully designed to create a rift within the ranks of the political party and its supporters.
Handing Ayodele a 24-hour ultimatum to publish a full and unequivocal retraction across all social media platforms and news outlets with the same prominence as the original video, they also demanded a written undertaking that he would cease and desist from making any further malicious statements against their client, warning that failure to comply, would lead to full legal actions.
The letter stated: “We shall claim substantial damages to the tune of Ten Billion Naira and cost of the action on a full indemnity basis amongst other reliefs.”
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday demanded the immediate end to the exportation of minerals from countries in Africa in their raw forms, which he said had led to massive exploitation of the continent.
The President, told member countries of the African Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), a forum of Ministers in charge of Mining and Solid Minerals on the continent to speak with one voice to promote, collective interests, ensure value addition, and prevent the continent from becoming merely a source of raw materials for the rest of the world.
As the Grand Patron of the group, chaired by Dele Alake, Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, gave the charge while receiving a delegation of AMSG in the State House, Tinubu told the delegation that the group had a critical role to play in strengthening Africa’s bargaining power in the global mineral market and ensuring that the continent derives maximum value from its natural resources.
His words: “ What we should do is avoid bureaucracy and deceit; we must put an end to exploitation. The rest of the world won’t mind if your country is a cesspit of dams and rubbish and excavates your raw materials without giving value.
“It is our responsibility to collaborate and cooperate to ensure that these metals and minerals bring value to us, bring technology to us, and we can do it. It is how much each country will put into the research, development and refinery. I don’t see reasons we cannot demand centralisation of that conversation somewhere on the continent. So why not utilise that in our research and development and knowledge-based economy to enhance the quality of life and bring prosperity to our people.”
Emphasising that Africa possessed enormous mineral wealth that should be strategically harnessed to drive industrialisation, create jobs and accelerate economic transformation across the continent, the President, said the era of exporting raw minerals without local processing and beneficiation must give way to a new model that encourages investment in local industries, technology transfer and the development of value chains that retain wealth within Africa.
Alake, who had earlier expressed gratitude to the President for his exemplary leadership under the Renewed Hope Agenda, said the gesture had shown support for Nigeria’s mineral sector, especially in the local value-addition and economic diversification drive, where artisanal miners are empowered.
He told the President: “You encouraged us to look at the focal point of the establishment of this group, which is to ensure that the African natural resources, especially with regards to minerals, critical matters, are localised, the beneficiation coming directly to Africans generally.
“You charged us that we should set our sails very high and ensure that local value addition is a pivot around which all the objectives of this organisation should revolve.
“So, sir, we have gone implemented your charge and we are quitted that today local value addition is reverberating all over Africa.”
He added that some member countries have gone ahead to ban the export of raw minerals.
He explained members of the body were in Abuja for the Fifth edition of the African Natural Resources and Energy Investment Summit (AFNIS 2026), to push for a new continental approach to resource management and industrial development.
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