The call comes as the National Assembly accelerates efforts to meet its December 2025 deadline for the constitutional review.

The Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere Group in the United Kingdom and Europe, known as UK Afenifere, has rejected the ongoing constitutional review exercise spearheaded by Nigeria’s National Assembly, insisting that only a brand-new constitution reflecting true federalism can address the country’s deep-rooted issues.

The call comes as the National Assembly accelerates efforts to meet its December 2025 deadline for the constitutional review.

The review aims to consider numerous proposed bills, including those on state creation, electoral reform, judiciary overhaul, local government autonomy, and security restructuring, notably the introduction of state police and a state security council.

Lawmakers have defended the process, insisting that the constitutional review is not just about amending a document but about shaping the future of Nigeria.

However, UK Afenifere strongly disagrees. 

In a press statement released on Wednesday by its Secretary, Engr. Anthony Ajayi, the group criticised the 1999 Constitution, even in its amended form, as a flawed foundation responsible for Nigeria’s chronic underdevelopment, corruption, and insecurity.

The group noted that the 1999 Constitution as amended has given rise to corruption and insecurity thereby depriving the Nigerian masses the enjoyment of good governance.

Ajayi added that since the constitution came into existence, Nigerian politicians have been hiding under it to perpetrate evil against the people of Nigeria unabated.

"We have been agitating for restructuring of Nigeria over the years just like others that had called for a referendum or national conference to address our differences,” Ajayi stated. 

“But, going by the current reality, Nigeria needs a Constitution that will capture the interest of the people more than politicians.

"We cannot continue to patronise practices that weigh on our development, weaken our potentials and mock our collective sensibilities.” 

According to Afenifere, the Western region of Nigeria under the leadership of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, “without oil money, used capitation tax and revenue from agriculture and mining to fund free education for over 800,000 pupils, built several roads, farm settlements, industrial estates, the first TV station in Africa, and the tallest building in Nigeria at the time, while still giving up 50 percent of its earnings from mining and minerals for allocation to the federal government and other regions.”

The group noted that drawing from the collective wisdom of some of Nigerian prominent leaders including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former President Goodluck Jonathan, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, among others, “Nigeria need a new constitution that empowers Nigerians, strengthens institutions, promotes electoral justice, protects minority rights, and enables broad-based development at all levels.” 

Ajayi stressed that these leaders have consistently traced the root of the Nigeria's challenges to the 1999 Constitution, which is described as unitary and undermines federalism.

He said, "Olawale Okunniyi did say, the 1999 Constitution, enacted in the twilight of military rule without extensive public consultation, has long been faulted for entrenching a unitary system that stifles federalism, undermines local governance, and fails to reflect Nigeria's multi-ethnic, pluralistic realities, and we agreed with him.

"From systemic insecurity, mass youth unemployment, and poor public service delivery to weak institutions, inequitable resource control, and economic centralisation, and many Nigeria's persistent challenges are rooted in constitutional dysfunction.”

Reiterating the group’s demand, Ajayi stated, "We therefore called on all Nigerians to demand for a new constitution that will ensure true federalism which often regarded as the appropriate governmental principle for countries with huge ethno-cultural diversities.

“This was the same principle our heroes past, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Tafawa Balewa, and many others used in the development of their region", the UK Afenifere said.