Stakeholders in the South West on
Friday expressed strong support for the
proposed national conference, saying
the national dialogue should birth a new
constitution for the country. They also
urged President Goodluck Jonathan to
take steps to protect the decisions of
the constituent members of the
federation.
For over five hours in Lagos on Friday,
stakeholders in the zone advanced
reasons for a national conference,
noting that this would determine
whether the Yoruba race would remain
part of Nigeria or not.
The stakeholders who included leaders
from all sections of the South West
spoke at an interactive session hosted
by the Presidential Advisory Committee
on National Dialogue at the Nigerian
Institute for International Affairs,
Lagos.
Some of those who spoke said the 1999
constitution is defective and further
elections should not be held until it had
been changed.
They asked the Committee, chaired by
Senator Femi Okurounmu, to advise the
President to muster the courage to
accede fully to the demand of Nigerians
for a genuine, ethnic nationalities-based
dialogue.
The participants representing Yoruba-
interest groups, civil society
organisations and professional bodies
took turns to call on Jonathan to
summon the courage to initiate a
national dialogue and respect the
outcome as the wishes of the people.
Presenting the position of the Pan-
Yoruba socio-political organisation,
Afenifere, the National Publicity
Secretary, Yinka Odumakin, said the
conference should examine the
philosophical foundation of the Nigerian
State, forms of government, structure of
the Nigerian state, legislative list,
executive list, law enforcement,
economy and the judiciary.
Afenifere proposed that the draft
constitution from the conference of the
nations within Nigeria should be taken
to a referendum after which the
President should forward an executive
bill to the National Assembly to enact it
into a law without tinkering with any of
the decisions taken by the conference.
He added that the federating units
could write their own constitutions
after such a law.
“Delegates to the conference must
emerge through elections. We suggest a
conference of not more than 700
delegates with 100 from each of the six
geo-political zones and the remaining
100 from special interest groups, he
said.
In his own contribution, the Convener,
South West Consultative Forum, Dr.
Tunji Braithwaite, submitted that there
was no going back on the decision to
hold a national dialogue.
While commending Jonathan for ‘buying
into the patriotic and historic call for a
dialogue,” he said the President should
disregard those saying such a dialogue
was needless.
He said, “The Arewa Consultative
Forum believes that it may fail like other
conferences, which resolutions were
thrown away, but I want to say that this
will not fail.”
He explained that there should be no
confusion over the word sovereign,
adding that “it is a matter of semantics,
what is important is that it is national
dialogue and it must represent the
interest of all ethnic nationalities.”
Speaking on the agenda for the
conference, the National Chairman,
Afenifere Renewal Group, Mr. Wale
Oshun, said that each region should be
allowed to table the issues that were of
the most importance to its existenc
within Nigeria.
He proposed that the conference
should look into the devolution of
powers, internal security, resource
control, revenue allocation,
management of federation account and
immunity from prosecution of political
office holders among others. On
representation, the ARG said that
delegates from political parties, labour
groups and the media should not be
allowed to participate at the
conference.
Oshun said, “We are recommending 30
delegates from each of the present six
administrative regions to attend the
conference. They should be elected.
“We do not support that the state or
Federal Government should nominate
any delegate. It may send observers
and technical support staff there.
“Since the conference will produce a
new constitution, through a
referendum, we recommend that the
conference be completed before 2015
elections.”
The Convener, Yoruba Nation Assembly,
Gen.Alani Akinrinade, corroborated
some of the views of the Afenifere and
the ARG.
He stressed the need for the
conference to be given a legal backing,
thus asking the President to submit a
bill to the National Assembly for
ratification, describing it as “a doctrine
of necessity.”
On modalities, Akinrinade said that
there should be public enlightenment
towards electing the delegates for
adequate representation. He proposed
an ethnic-based representation of a
total of 300.
Once the representation is deemed
adequate, he said, “Anyone or group
that walks out of the conference or
doesn’t agree with the conference can
go and form their own country.
“Anyone who refuses to endorse what
the citizens agree on in a referendum
can opt out and decide what they want
to do. I think we should not tie
ourselves down because we do not
want the country to break up.
“It can still remain the Federal Republic
of Nigeria if we are courageous and
principled enough to allow the people to
go.”
The President, Campaign for Democracy,
Joe Okei-Odumakin, said that
conference delegates must be ethnic
representatives, not politicians.
She said that there would be no
elections until the conference had been
convened so that the new set of leaders
could be subjected to a constitution by
the people.
She said, “There is nowhere that
government makes constitution for the
people, it is the people that make
constitution to govern themselves.
“We want to state that the conference
must address issues that are pertinent
to the people and the resolutions must
be respected. It must not be altered
except through a referendum.”
The Yoruba Unity Forum in its
submission presented by its head, Rev.
Bolanle Gbonigi, said that the issue of
delegates should not be lost to
politicians.
“This might be the last great opportunity
to discuss together peacefully as a
nation. Therefore, we must get it right
this time. We propose about 400
delegates,” he said.
When it was time for the Gani Adams
faction to present its position to the
audience, shouts of Oodua rented the
hall.
But as soon as Adams got to the
podium, he picked holes in the two
positions earlier made by his
counterpart, Dr. Fredrick Fasehun.
He said, “I wish to say that I represent
the Gani Adams faction of OPC and we
do not agree with two of the positions
earlier stated.”
Fasehun, had in his presentation asked
that a bill should be sent to the National
Assembly to give theconference a legal
backing and that delegates of political
parties should be part of the
conference.
But Adams said, “About 80 per cent of
the members of the National Assembly
are against the national dialogue, if we
wait for them to give it a legal backing,
they will kill it.’’
Speaking for the Coalition of Oodua Self
Determination Group, Femi Obayori,
said that those who don’t want to be
part of Nigeria should be allowed to go.
He said that ethnic nationalities should
form delegates of the conference and
not the zones.
He said that the Federal Government
should not be represented at the
conference but should remain an
umpire.
But contrary to the view of the ARG, he
said that representatives of professional
bodies should be part of the conference.
On referendum, COSEG agreed with
other speakers, but said that it should
not be taken to the National Assembly
for ratification.
He said, “This conference is not about
the unity of Nigeria, any ethnic
nationality that does not want to be part
of Nigeria should be allowed to go.”
A member of the committee, Mr. Tony
Uranta, told journalist by the sideline of
the session that the committee was
committed to reporting the views of
Nigerians on the call for a national
dialogue to the President, saying that
they believed that he would make good
his intentions on the matter.
Uranta said that the committee’s
mandate forbade it to talk on the issues
raised but rather to listen to all being
said.
Asked about the incident between a
member of the committee, Tony Nyiam
and Edo State Governor, Adams
Oshiomhole, during a similar session in
the state he said, “I believe that the
committee member must be feeling a
sense of remorse. What I know is that
we have tendered a public apology to
the governor and he has accepted it.”
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