Delegates to the recently concluded 2014 National Conference have launched a fresh and elaborate bid to scuttle President Goodluck Jonathan’s plan to implement the report of the conference, PREMIUM TIMES can report today.
The delegates, under the aegis of Northern Delegates Forum, NDF, in a post-mortem presentation to “stakeholders, institution and leaders” of the North, rejected some of the recommendations of the Confab, which they claimed were smuggled into the final report by the Presidency.
They also restated their opposition to the process of nomination to the conference and the procedure adopted by its leadership.
In a protest letter to the Chairman of the Conference, Idris Kutigi, in July, the NDF, opposed the “draft constitution” and demanded its withdrawal from circulation.
“We call upon the leadership of the conference to discountenance and withdraw the ‘draft Constitution’ and the accompanying bills which have been circulated,” the group said.
“We urge the conference leadership to table the draft conference report which contains only the resolutions openly and officially sanctioned and adopted by delegates for validation and adoption as provided for under the National Conference Procedure Rules, 2014 and as envisaged in the Work Plan adopted.”
However, in the latest protest, the Forum, in the 35-page document dated October 15, demanded the jettisoning of the report because it contains some recommendations allegedly smuggled in by the Federal Government.
The document, which suggested the President is working to discredit and weaken the region, is being widely circulated in the region.
It specifically said the proposal for the creation of 18 news states, their capitals and local governments was brought in by the government.
It said, “The importation of a new Nigerian map into the final report with names of additional states and their boundaries, new state capitals and local governments when in effect, the Conference plenary only stopped at presenting various memos received by its relevant committee attests to the description of the conference sponsors to level up, or surpass the North in number of states and local governments, using all foul means at their disposal.”
The Forum contended that it would be “offensive to rudimentary concept of justice” should new states be created on the basis of equality without consideration for land mass, population or economic viability.
“After all, injustice is not only when equals are treated unequally, but also when unequal (s) are treated equally.”
The northern delegates also said that the conference was characterised by a range of irregularities as some items and agenda, which were not part of the original mandates of the sub-committees, were smuggled in.
It listed such items to include issues of referendum, resource democracy and creation of additional states, which it said was not based on any known constitutional criteria.
The group argued that ‘referendum’ clause was neither assigned to any of the 20 Committees as agenda item nor discussed at plenary but nonetheless found its way into the conference report as a recommendation for constitutional amendment.
On “Resource Democracy,” the group it said was brought in by the sub-committee on Environment, though the mandate fell on the Committee on Devolution of Power.
“Nonetheless, the leadership of the conference allowed voice votes to be taken on them despite vehement protestations of several occasions,” it said.
“Again, all attempts to subject voice votes to actual voting were declined by conference leadership, contrary to the rules of procedure.”
The group further alleged that the government deliberately abused both procedure and criteria for selection of delegates at the conception stage of the conference.
It alleged that the government consciously staged-managed the conference as part of a calculated plot to weaken and undermine the unity of the North, while it pursued its consolidation agenda for a greater South.
According to the group, it is on record that the government was funding and working hand-in-hand with media barons from the South, especially of Niger Delta extraction who dominate both the electronic, print and internet-based media.
“That task was to feed the nation on diets of anti-North propaganda – lies, threats, and hate speech,” it said.
The group said apart from making oral and written representations to the Conference leadership, some faith-based organisations and Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, also made physical representations to both Mr. Jonathan and his deputy, Namadi Sambo, on disagreeable issues that arose in the course of the conference, but that there was no remediation whatsoever.
It claimed that the protest to the president was, instead, greeted with ‘addendum list’, which neither impressed, nor assuage the fears of the vast majority of Nigerians, and Northerners in particular.
“In fact, to insult the sensibilities of the North, the addendum list was made up of three legal practitioners from the South, with ties to the present government.”
It also said when the conference insisted on voting over the contentious issue of revenue derivation as it currently stands, the conference once again resorted to “escapism by hiding under the recommendation of the conference’s wise men committee to refer the matter back to the presidency, in favour of an advisory committee to settle the matter, amicably.”
The group therefore demanded that the Draft Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2014,” should be jettisoned while all decisions touching on the constitutional amendments as “proposed Amendments to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999”.
It also called for the rejection of any documents purporting to be “Proposed Bills to Adopt a Draft Constitution, 2014.”
The group also demanded the rejection of the new map of Nigeria with additional states, and local governments, and instead subject all requests to scrutiny based on constitutional and other criteria.
It also asked the government to decline approval of diaspora voting and upward review of revenue allocation formula for oil producing states, which it said was as agreed by the confab.
However, the spokesperson of the conference, Akpandem James, debunked the group’s claims.
He said, “If any of the states meets the conditions then that they can be created. But these are merely recommendations and it is left for the government to accept or reject. If you look at those requests, many of them cannot qualify.
“The Conference did not create states. The Conference made recommendations based on proposals and the Conference made conditions for the creation of states.”
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/173189-exclusive-north-launches-fresh-attack-on-jonathan-wants-implementation-of-national-conference-report-halted.html
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