The Legal Theory of Grundnorm and the Right to a Sovereign National Conference by James Chiemena Aguh

963 Words4 Pages
INTRODUCTION A Sovereign National Conference is an autonomous, self-constituted and superior conference of the people embodied in a constitution which can only be ratified by the people through a referendum not subject to the whims and caprices of the existing political institution. The demand for a Sovereign National Conference in Nigeria has been ongoing for decades now. Despite government efforts to suppress this call, Nigerians, legal luminaries, various coalition groups etc. continue to push the government to organize a Sovereign National Conference where every ethnic nationality will come together to discuss the way forward for the country. THE OPPONENTS Prominent reasons apologists for this government position advance are: a. That the sovereign will of the people reside in the National Assembly whom they have delegated their authority through the constitution to as elected officials of a national government and as such will mean a divided sovereignty. b. That it will aid in disintegrating the country since being sovereign, the people may decide to opt out of the federation. The depth of these reasons is political in nature and stems from self-preservation of the incumbent government rather than thorough consideration for the need to actually have a conference of such status. THE PROPONENTS In countering the above position, the advocators for the Sovereign National Conference hold that: a. In a republic like Nigeria, sovereignty lies with the people through the constitution. The presupposition being that the people made the constitution themselves which in our case is wrong because the constitution was handed down to us by the military government with its fundamental defects. b. In a constitutional democracy, where the “Grundnorm” is self-declaratory without drawing its validity from the people then it cannot be said to be a Grundnorm properly
Open Document