Constitution Amendment ‘ll Correct Political Imbalance –Odubote

Mr. Lanre Odubote, a House of Representatives member, representing Epe Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, has expressed optimism that constitution amendment will correct the  imbalances and political crises in the country, especially in the area of insecurity.

Odubote who said this in a chat with Political Platform, added that the issue of fuel subsidy is an unpopular decision.

He queried,”How come Nigeria with over 150 million people does not have a refinery in each of the state of the federation?”

“Something is happening and the press should go and look into it. We must know how our oil is being lifted and what is coming in as our revenue from it. The government must let us know what is happening in that sector.

“As politicians we campaign that we are going to improve the standard of living of our people and no politician would support such a thing that will not improve the standard of living of his people. It is only the executives that are debating the issue. I am sure that if they bring it to the National Assembly, it will fail and nobody will support it.

“Nobody will support it because it is going to affect the generality of the people and it is very dangerous at this time when there are a lot of crises all over Africa, especially in North Africa,” he said.

Speaking on the proposed single six-year tenure for president and governors, he said, “That is a very dangerous move. How can you change the goal post at the middle of the game? It is not even coming from the masses and such a decision ought to have been taken at a referendum or constitutional conference. It is not for some set of people to decide. The president is already in office and he wants to take the advantage that he is there.

“The thing will fail and it is not even the best practice in a democracy. If you don’t have to contest for second term but serve for only a single term, people will just go there and loot the treachery since they know they are not coming back. But for us to have a competitive democracy there must be competition,” he said.

Assessing the conduct of the last Lagos State local government elections, he enthused,”as far as I am concerned, the PDP tried to showcase their strength for the first time by participating in the legitimate elections into the 57 councils in the state. The ACN won the election massively and we thank God that our leadership is forthright.

Speaking on the performance of government at the grassroots level, the lawmaker said,”We would continue to have problems at the local government level until the issue of local government administration is  resolved by the constitution.