A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Chief Wole Olanipekun has revealed why ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo almost “boxed” him.
The SAN spoke at the 32nd and 33rd convocation lecture of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State.
Olanipekun spoke on the topic: “Mass Exodus of Human Capital in Nigeria: An Anatomical Analysis of the Causes and Effects.”
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The former NBA president said Obasanjo almost punched him for advising him to review and amend the country’s 1999 Constitution during his presidency.
He described the 1999 constitution as “fake” and lacking the required elements to address the various challenges confronting the country.
He said previous alterations to the constitution were “charades and widow dressing”.
Olanipekun, who said as president of the NBA he led a delegation to Obasanjo in 2022, revealed: “We need a constitution with a humane face.
“I’m a lawyer, but we are deceiving ourselves.
“Our constitution is fake and I have said this over and over.
“But then you will ask us lawyers that: ‘If we say the constitution is fake, why are we practicing it?’
“Lawyers and judges apply the law as it is, not the law as it ought to be.
“So we apply the law as we have it now and we have been pleading that we should amend the constitution.
“Let us overhaul it.
“I, as president of the NBA, I led a delegation of the association to President Obasanjo in 2002.
“He almost boxed me.
“I’m here in Ogun State and I’m saying this.
“He is still alive.
“He said: ‘No you can’t change it.’
“I said Mr. President, let us seize this opportunity to do it.
“We also appeal to the powers that be now, to our president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, that the time for us to restructure this country is now.
“If we do not do it, these children that we have abroad might not return home.
“They won’t come here.”
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