The proposed national dialogue may hold in this first quarter. But, criticisms are trailing the report of the Presidential Advisory Committee (PAC) headed by Senator Femi Okurounmu. Will President Goodluck Jonathan issue guidelines on the conference based on the report or tap from the minority report submitted by Chief Solomon Asemota (SAN)? MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE highlights the hurdles on the way of the conference.
Then President Goodluck Jonathan unfolded his plan for a national conference last year, many stakeholders were skeptical. They dismissed the proposed dialogue as a decoy. Now, the report of the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Conference recently submitted to President Goodluck Jonathan has confirmed the fear that the conference will be teleguided by the government.
The committee headed by Senator Femi Okurounmu was divided over some issues. While Okurounmu submitted a majority report, another member, Chief Solomon Asemota (SAN) submitted a minority report. The conference is expected to kick off in this quarter. But, stakeholders have expressed divergent views. Some have said that the report fell short of expectation. Others are saying that the missing links in the majority report can be bridged by the recommendations in the minority report. A section of the stakeholders are also warning against dismissing the reports, until the government white paper is out.
Many people have pointed out that the main report has trivialized critical issues germane to the survival of the country. Highlighting the shortcoming, the former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), said expressed surprise about the report. He said irrelevant 38 items have been included in the agenda of the national conference. He warned that, if the conference is convoked, based on the Okurounmu report, it will end up as a mere talk shop.
Agbakoba said: “We expect that we had made a number of recommendations on things we have found unacceptable. The first surprise, which the PAC put forward, is that it has failed to understand what the constitution should contain.
“We had expected that the PAC will be looking at the devolution of power, the structure of the federation, whether there should be six geo-political zones, state creation and their viability, the role of the local government and other important issues.”
The human rights activist said that, although the PAC played down these important items on the conference agenda, issues of god fatherism, the cost of governance, the return of missionary and private schools, nomadic education, Tsangaya/Almajiri education system and unsettled issues of the Nigerian civil war are put on the front burner. The President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Okey Wali (SAN), also faulted the report. He wondered why the President refused to receive the minority report submitted by Asemota.
However, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, flayed the critics of the report. He pointed out that Asemota was present when Okunrounmu presented his report to the President. His explanation did not put a stop to the volley of criticisms. The leader of ‘The Patriots’ and the ‘Igbo Leader of Thoughts’, Professor Ben Nwabueze (SAN), said that the report was lopsided on the modalities of convoking the national conference, which requires that delegates should come from the existing constituencies delineated by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), instead of the ethnic nationalities.
The former university don frowned at the way Okurounmu had attacked him, based on his observations, instead of acknowledging his lapses in good faith. Also, the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) led by Hon. Olawale Oshun supported Nwabueze’s line of thoughts. The Publicity Secretary of the group, Mr. Kunle Famoriyo, said that any conference convened, based on the Okunrounmu panel’s recommendation, may not meet the yearning of Nigerians.
He added: “We found the recommendation that representation should be based on federal constituencies distasteful because this political structure has been used as a veritable tools of injustice, social and political discrimination that have held this country bound.
“Our recommendation therefore, is that equal number of delegates should be elected or selected by ethnic nations within the zone. We also reject the recommendation that the conference delegates should be saddled with the responsibility of deciding how the decision and the outcome of the proposed conference would be integrated into the constitution and laws of Nigeria.
“We therefore, kick against the nomination of any delegate, whether from any public official or from special interest group. Our stand is that every Nigerian belongs to an ethnic nation.”
Agbakoba reviewed the agitations for the national conference. He noted that the 1999 Constitution was rejected because it did not emanate from the people. The lawyer said that the people perceived it as a military imposition because the document was midwife by the Abdulsalami Abubakar Administration.
There are several flaws in the constitution which stakeholders expect the conference to correct. The constitution, for instance, states that the creation of states must be backed by the act of the National Assembly. The request must be supported by, at least, two-third majority of members representing the area.
The process, analysts believe, is cumbersome should be modified. Some states are not viable, but were created for selfish political reasons. Some of them were decreed by the military government.
Also, the local governments have become a subject of disputation. The 1999 Constitution states that a bill for the law of a House of Assembly, in respect of the area agitating for a council, must be supported by, at least, two-third majority of members representing the area demanding the creation of the new local government.
Many experts have pointed out that the council are created by states, but their funding has become a subject of disputation. Should they be funded by the Federal Government or states?
Pro-National Conference (PRONACO) member Mr. Linus Okoroji expressed reservations about the proposed conference. He said that one of the issues that may generate heat there is the status of the local government. “ The federal government should not fund the councils directly because they are created by states. They should ensure that the money goes to the states that will now allocate them to their councils. The states already have a grasp of the challenges these councils are facing”, he said.
Another vexed issue on the front burner is the state police. It has polarized the polity. While a section is insisting on the federal police, another section is agitating for its decentralization.
Recent events in the country has fuelled the clamour for a multi-level policing. There are allegations that state police commissioners are incited against governors, who are the chief security officers in their states.
Abgbakoba urged Nigerians not to miss the opportunity for another conference. But, he doubted, if the dialogue can succeed, if the baseline is the adoption of the majority report.
He said: “Nigerians truly want to see a new constitution. Rightly or wrongly, Nigerians are not happy that General Abubakar brought about the 1999 Constitution through Decree No 24 of 1998. They want to see something new. So, they don’t expect that the new constitution should simply be amended. After the national conference has produced a report, they say it should go to the National Assembly that will now tinker with it. How can that be a constitution by the Nigerian people?
“What we want to see is a new constitution that is home grown and owned by Nigerians, subject to a referendum, sent to the President and given to the National Assembly, whose only power is to pass it into law. That is what Nigerians want to see. So, we reject the proposition by the committee. The National Assembly cannot be bigger than the Nigerian people”.
Agbakoba added: “We have always talked about a Sovereign National Conference. But, I am a pragmatic human right advocate. We cannot pull a SNC; we don’t have the momentum for that. I don’t see anything wrong with the President convening the conference. But, if there must be SNC, there are certain minimum requirement. The conference must be open to all. Everybody must participate through the ethnic nationalities.”
Agbakoba said: “The conference may be swallowed by the tension in the National Assembly.” He therefore, urged stakeholders to avoid that disastrous route.
In the minority report, Asemota argued that, without a referendum, the report of the conference will be in jeopardy. He dissociated himself from this omission, which created a deep hollow in the majority report.
