Aregbesola Advocates Parliamentary System Of Government

A former governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has disclosed that Nigeria cannot survive an executive presidential system.

The immediate past Minister of Interior described the current presidential system as a death knell for Nigeria.

This was his submission at the ongoing National Dialogue on the constitutional future of Nigeria in Honour of a renowned constitutional lawyer, Prof. Ben Nwabueze, organised by the Patriots (A Pan Nigerian Group of Eminent National Leaders of Thought) with the theme, “Lawful Procedures for Actualising a People’s Constitution for Nigeria.”

Aregbesola, while advocating for a parliamentary system, said productive representation must take the place of residence.

His words, “I have two motions to move. The first motion is about democratic representation. We have been talking about the forms of governance.

“How do we elect people into the parliament? What we have globally is what we practice in Nigeria, but I see an error in it. People are elected based on residence, and the truth is, in modern life, we are disconnected.

“Yes, in traditional society, residence would be a forum for relationships and engagements, but in modern life, it is not.

“We are united more through production. So, therefore, in seeking appropriate democratic representation, let us look at production as a basis of representation.

“We don’t have the best form of representation. People are engaged more in production. Productive acts and those engaged in production should be given the opportunity to elect their best.

“Can Nigeria survive executive presidential election representation? The answer is capital No.

“Let us all agree on the parliamentary system. We have different forms, which include the absolute parliamentary system of the British, the French parliamentary system and we have the South African parliamentary system.

“The presidential system is a death knell for Nigeria, we cannot survive it,” Aregbesola emphasised.