Opponents of national conference, Nigeria’s enemies —Briggs

THE spokesperson for the Ijaw Republican Assembly, Ms. Annkio Briggs, has described those opposed to the proposed National Conference as enemies of Nigeria. Briggs explained that people opposed to the conference were those that wanted the country to remain in its current state. Speaking in an interview with SUNDAY PUNCH on Friday, Briggs argued that apart from ensuring that Nigerians stayed together as a people, the national conference would show the country the way forward. Briggs, who is the Executive Director and founder of Agape Birthrights, added that those against the proposed national dialogue would be hurting themselves because the majority of Nigerians were ready for the exercise. Explaining that the exercise should be held before the elections, she pointed out that issues bordering on regional government, true federalism and resource control would be discussed at the conference. “If Nigeria is to stay together, the conference must be the beginning of it and I am even proposing that the conference is held before the elections because through this, we will have a picture of where we are going as a country. “Those opposed to the planned national conference are those who want the country to remain the way it is. Therefore, they are enemies of Nigeria. “We will from the discussions and the demands that we are going to make know where we are going. I want to assure you that any man from any ethnic group that does not accept the SNC is only hurting himself; he is not hurting my people because we want the conference,” she said. She also expressed dissatisfaction with the mounting opposition against President Goodluck Jonathan, adding that the position of some of the President’s critics was borne out of greed, ethnicism, selfishness and corruption. Explaining that the President has performed well within two years, Briggs stated that Jonathan had done better than past leaders. She said, “Political opposition in any setup is normal; it is expected. There must be opposition otherwise it becomes one-way governance or a one- party political system. But opposition should not be personal. “If you look at the past administrations since independence, you would see that Jonathan has done more in two years than any of them did in two years. The opposition to Jonathan is based on selfishness; it is based on greed and the belief by a crop of Nigerians, not the 150 million Nigerians, that Jonathan should not be the President of Nigeria. “It is not because he (Jonathan) does not qualify to be the President, but because this crop of Nigerians does not want him to be the President. They believe that they or who they pick should be the President of Nigeria.” On the face-off between President Jonathan and the Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, Briggs explained that the governor was not speaking on behalf of the people of the state.