By Tony Ailemen, Abuja

The Emeka Anyaoku-led Patriots, on Friday, asked President Bola Tinubu to initiate a process to convene a constituent assembly and a referendum

The Patriots, a non-partisan group of eminent Nigerians disclosed this on Friday while briefing State House journalists after meeting with President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Anyaoku, a former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, stated that the constituent assembly will be made up of three persons elected from each of the 36 states of the country, who will produce a draft Constitution.

The eminent citizens also asked the President to produce a draft bill to be sent to the National Assembly to approve a referendum for the country.

According to him, Nigeria needs a people’s democratic pluralistic constitution that will reflect its pluralistic nature.

“Nigeria is a pluralistic country and pluralistic countries that were able to manage their diversities like India and Canada, are waxing stronger today, while those who failed to managed theirs like Yugoslavia, Sudan and Czechoslovakia, have disintegrated.

“We demanded that the President should urgently sent a bill for a legislation convening a National Constituent Assembly to consist of individuals three per state to draft a new constitution for Nigeria, as well as a national referendum.”

The draft constitution should be subjected to the national referendum to determine the emergence of a constitution.

“We also talked about the protests and asked the government to dialogue with the leaders of the protesters. We also discussed that the security agencies should avoid using lethal weapons.

“I do not believe that with the challenges facing the country, the cost of setting up a constituent assembly should be a problem.”

He also projected that the new constitution can be realised between six and nine months.

“The new constitution should be able to address these challenges,” he further said.