ALHAJI Atiku Abubakar, the Vice-President, gave the first indication some months ago that the much-desired national conference would be conducted next year. He did not state the time, format and criteria through which delegates to the conference would emerge. He simply gave a hint.
But President Olusegun Obasanjo gave the needed confirmation, Tuesday, when he inaugurated an eight-member committee he put together to work out the necessary framework for what he termed a “national dialogue” that is billed to hold next year.
The Head of State said that “to ensure public ownership of the envisaged reform process, the proposed national committee will reflect the various social forces and interests, community interests and political tendencies within the nation.”
Among other reasons, the dialogue (call it sovereign national conference or national conference) is expected to re-orientate Nigerians from politics of patronage and materialism to politics of service, and to also transform the political parties from vehicles to pursue power into viable weapons for political stability and development.
Governor Ahmed Makarfi of Kaduna State is the chairman of the committee which equally has Ondo State governor, Dr. Segun Agagu, Prof. Jerry Gana, the political adviser to the President as well as Senate Chief Whip, Senator Udo Udoma and Communications minister, Chief Cornelius Adebayo. Others are Prof. Joy Ogwu, the director-general of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Prof. Okwudiba Nnoli of the University of Nigeria and Alhaji Aliyu Yahaya, the special adviser to the Vice-President on Political Affairs.
Makarfi said at the inauguration that his committee is empowered to make criteria for the selection of participants and delegates to the conference. The committee has up till December 31, 2004 to complete its assignment.
Ordinarily, advocates for the convocation of a national conference should see a ray of hope with this move. From Pa Anthony Enahoro to Dim Emeka Ojukwu, Chief Abraham Adesanya, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), Col. Abubakar Umar (rtd), The Patriots among others, it seems the precise accomplishment of their dream.
But do the agitators think so? Does this not meet their anticipations? What are the views of other Nigerians concerning the setting up of the committee for the national dialogue that had been so vigorously campaigned for? Will the Makarfi-led body live up to its expectation and come out with a document worth its time? Your soar-away Saturday Vanguard spoke with notable Nigerians on the issue.
Gani: This is arrant nonsense
Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), Lagos lawyer and Human Right activist punches holes into the setting up of the committee by the Federal Government.
What President Obasanjo is doing is not a serious move because, first, there is no law to set it up. It’s mere administrative device which will not be far-reaching or effective.
Secondly, the hand-picking of just ministers, some governors and government agents should be seen for what it is: arrant nonsense and waste of time. These are Obasanjo loyalists and we are talking of national dialogue. If it must be effective, there must be a law to bring about the machinery for doing that and if possible, for holding the national conference. The objectives of what Obasanjo has started are not far-reaching.
Everything under the sun should be allowed to be discussed about the problems of Nigeria from 1914 to the present day. But the objectives set up by Mr. President are not all-embracing and they are very exclusive in some areas. They are not all-inclusive.
Thirdly, if you want to convene a national conference, you must have a national conference planning committee of officials and non-officials of the private and non-private members from the public or from the polity. Moreover, there should also be representatives of interest groups: lawyers, engineers, journalists, accountants, organised private industry, organised labour, students, workers and so on. There should also be traditional rulers, members of the judiciary, armed forces.
All the interest groups in the country should be in a position to select members and those who will represent their interests in the national conference. And there should be an election on non-party basis in each of the local government areas. There will be no party elections but individual representative committees and there are 774 councils under the present constitution.
So, if we hold elections to the national conference and also interest groups elect members to the conference and these elections are conducted by the conference planning committee in conjunction with the Independent Electoral Commission, there must be a law that will establish the convention of the conference.
There must be a mechanism for it and after it, there must be a memorandum, a referendum that should ensure the incorporation of the decisions arrived at into the constitution. Then, that will be the final document. So, there must be a law. The National Assembly must make a law in that regard.
But what I am seeing is another waste of time and resources to carry out the whims and caprices of Mr. President through a select group. So, I condemn it. It is not far reaching. It is not acceptable. It is not what we envisaged. It is not what will do Nigeria any good. It’s like one of those committees we’ve been having. The presidency has set up such committees in the past and they achieved nothing. There was the Kolade inquiry; the Oputa panel and so many others. None of these has seen the light of the day. This is just another of such committees. This is 419. So, I condemn it.
This is a rubber stamp body — Ebri
Chief Clement Ebri, the former civilian governor of Cross River State in the botched Third Republic, criticises the proposed national dialogue as an exercise in futility. Ebri who spoke to Saturday Vanguard, Wednesday night, described the national dialogue committee as a rubber stamp body that would discharge its assignment with suspicion.
When I heard the news over the radio that the Federal Government had set up a committee on national dialogue headed by governor Ahmend Makarfi of Kaduna State, I laughed. The whole exercise, to me, looks more like a big joke, sheer nonsense. I have looked at the names in that committee and I just can’t see many of them that truly represent the wishes and aspirations of most Nigerians as far as the question of national conference is concerned.
Why must it be Governor Ahmed Makarfi who should head the committee? Why must it be populated by government men? What the government did was just to assemble all those people who are known to express views that reflect government’s position. If you are talking about a national conference, it must be a kind of national talkshop where the true representatives of the various ethnic groups in this country would meet and discuss every issue no matter how sensitive, that affects them in this federation.
The people who ought to be on that committee if this government really wants that committee to succeed, are those people who have been known to be on the side of the people. They are the people who can truly represent the position of majority of the people of this country who are desirous of a forum to discuss their problems. From the look of things, it does not appear to me that this is an initiative that this government is sincere about.
I see a situation where the government had been boxed to a tight corner on this very issue by the civil society organisations and different ethnic nationality groups that have come up recently to canvass this idea. Of course, you know that these two groups had started clandestine moves to convoke a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) if government was reluctant to do so. Now having seen that the initiative may be taken from them, government decided to put something, just anything together and call it a national dialogue.
The composition of the committee members for that project does not even help matters at all. They are not people one could trust to handle such an important national assignment the way the people of this country would be satisfied that the problems besetting them have been addressed. So, the best the committee will settle for, will be the kind of conference we had under General Abacha which did not really address our problems the way we wanted because the whole thing was diluted and mutilated by that government.
So, for us to have a proper national conference, the people of this country must have a significant input. It is not something the government can hurriedly set up and put in some people who are their loyalists to come and prepare the framework. I would like to see a situation where government shows willingness and seriousness to address the problems of the people via a credible conference.
Not yet the conference we’ve been waiting for, says Okorie
National Chairman of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Chekwas Okorie takes a hard punch at the proposed National Conference of all ethnic nationalities whose committee President Olusegun Obasanjo inaugurated on Wednesday.
I would not call this attempt by government a victory for us who have been championing for a national conference. As a matter of fact, what President Olusegun Obasanjo has done is to pre-empt what we were planning for the country. And what he announced lacks sincerity. There is no way the President can bring out a list of delegates to a project of such magnitude and importance.
So, I cannot see how this will move this country forward. We are talking of a national conference where all the ethnic nationalities will be adequately represented. And we have designed a comprehensive agenda for the conference. For instance, there are over 20 twenty ethnic nationalities in Plateau State. And Plateau State has eight members of those representatives in the National Assembly. At best, these legislators will come from eight different ethnic nationalities. And then you have twelve ethnic nationalities not represented. You can now see that there are many ethnic nationalities in Plateau not represented in the House of Reps.
For the type of confab we’re planning, every ethnic nationality in this country would have a delegation to the conference that will present its own views on how we shall relate with one another, bringing to the fore the local peculiarities in which they live in. And all these will be harmonised to come up with a guiding document that every Nigerian can stand up to say “we the people of Nigeria hereby produce this constitution.” A constitution arising from a national conference becomes a fallout of the national conference, an authentic document of law.
There are so many issues to be discussed that would not even be in the present constitution but which will be contained in the overall guiding document from which an electoral reform will emerge and from which a political structure that this country will adopt in future will emerge. Now, there will be increased agitation for parliamentary system, for instance. We have practised presidential system of government for some time now and we have found out that it requires some bit of adjustment to suit our local peculiarity. These are not the kinds of issues that will be raised by government handpicking delegates to the national conference.
Therefore, for me and for the groups that I represent, we intend to meet again in January next year to harmonise our positions and make our positions known to the world. If President Obasanjo wants to continue with the national dialogue, he can go ahead with it. But as far as I am concerned, that is not the national conference we’ve been clamouring for. Our own national conference will go ahead. We shall implement it, with or without government’s own national conference.
To all intent and purposes, what Obasanjo has proposed is not in any way different from late General Abacha’s constitutional conference. There was fewer number of delegates elected but was populated by government appointees. That is not the type of national conference that we want. I will, therefore, advise Obasanjo not to waste public resources in this ill-advised, mischievous contraption called national dialogue that he is putting together with governor Ahmed Markafi and co. Therefore, we are yet to have a proper national conference.
Another body will deal with the details, by Udo Udoma
Senator Udo Udoma, the Senate Chief Whip is one of the eight members of the committee picked by President Olusegun Obasanjo to fashion out the modalities for a national dialogue next year. He sues for patience from all Nigerians as the committee begins its work.
We only started meeting. We’ve met only once and our agenda is still unfolding. But if you read the President’s speech at the inauguration of the panel, it did express some of the objectives the panel is set to achieve. The President said we should prepare a background paper and after it, he would set up a body. It is not our duty to deliberate or dialogue. We would want Nigerians to exercise patience until they see the larger body before deciding if it is something they will be happy with or not.
Personally, I believe in dialogue and since we have been given this assignment, I don’t want my personal opinion to be misconstrued as the opinion of the panel. So, I would advise that Nigerians wait for us to finish the work because it is clear to me that the President wants a bigger body to deliberate on this political issue. So, this is a positive development and the people have so much to deliberate upon to cement the peace and unity of the people.
Definitely, we have issues in this country affecting the unity of the sub-groups to deliberate upon. I’ve just received an invitation from Mr. President and from the objectives he mapped out, we would take up the issues that will later involve other Nigerians. I know that people are naturally skeptical about it but this committee from what the President said, has a definite job. It is the larger group that would now do the greater job of dialoguing on the issues that will bind the ethnic nationalities in Nigeria better and stronger.
It’s the right thing to do — Shagaya
GEN. John Shagaya (rtd) believes that whatever name called, there is nothing wrong with Nigerians coming toegther to talk on issues of national importance.
On many occasions, journalists have confronted me to ask my opinion on national conference. I have always said that I support dialogue because even in constitutional making, it is a continuous thing which will change with the dynamics of time. So, there is nothing wrong with a conference if we have to discuss what is good for Nigeria and what will bring about responsible and respectable behaviours in politics and in our relationship with one another from one sub-region to another. So, I’m for it.
It would be too expensive to go about it the way many people would want, like having an election on non-party basis to elect the delegates to the conference. That would be too expensive and time-consuming. I think within this society called Nigeria, we should trust ourselves. There are people who if you put together, they are responsible enough to come up with a good representation that would be appreciated by all of us. The most important thing is to ensure that all communities in Nigeria are represented.
Besides, there’s nothing that elected people will discuss outside putting together all the views that have been presented by the people. So, I think this panel should be given the chance to work. They are not the ones to be delegates. They are only working out modalities for the real thing. So, let’s encourage them because at the end of the day, I believe all communities in Nigeria and interest groups would be represented in the real dialogue that would bring about the much-desired peace in the nation.
No True Confab Without National Assembly,by Fari
National chairman of the National Democratic Party, NDP, Alhaji Aliyu Habu-Fari dismisses the Governor Ahmed Makarfi-led national dialogue committee set up by the Federal Government, stating that no such arrangement can succeed without the current National Assembly.
Well, we have had several conferences in the past and to me, this one being planned by the Obasanjo government is one of those conferences. You see, I do not oppose the idea of a national conference. It is a good thing that the people of Nigeria can meet and discuss their various problems which have been at the root of the crises we have been having in this country.
In fact, our party, the NDP, is in support of a conference. But the question I would like to ask are: where will the conference draw its authority? How would the resolutions of the conference be endorsed and enforced? I ask because as far as I know, this is not a government thing because such resolutions as reached by the delegates representing the various ethnic nations in this country can not be left for the government to enforce. Allowing the government to do that will, of course, be dangerous to the common interest of the Nigerian people.
So, I would like to see a situation where the present National Assembly which is a national body representing the various peoples of this country through election, would deliberate on the resolutions of the conference and then build them into the existing constitution. What we actually need in essence and that is the position of our party, is to ensure that some aspects of our constitution which are not in tandem with our democratic demands, be amended through a simple amendment process.
The conference is not constitutionally empowered to make any valid changes in the law books. It is only the National Assembly so elected for that purpose that can do that. Therefore, I will support any arrangement that will enable the people of this country to talk with one another on issues that are fundamental to their very existence but such agreements or resolutions by the conference whether it be the one set up by the government or the one freely convoked by the people themselves, must be sent to the National Assembly so that they can approve it into law.
A sure path to peace, says Yakassai
Elder statesman and First Republic politician, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai welcomes the idea of a dialogue as a way to ensuring that lasting peace prevails.
The people who started the agitation for national conference never stated how they would want it to be and what should be the powers of that conference. These are the people agitating for a sovereign national conference.
Now, the National Assembly and the President cannot relinquish their sovereignty to another body. So, the concept of sovereign national conference by a school of thought at the forefront of this agitation is not possible in Nigeria.
So, what we are left with is an idea of a national dialogue which is what the government is planning to do. The ethnic nationalities in Nigeria need to sit down and talk and that is what this government has come to accept . Hence, it has set a machinery in motion to effect it. Dialogue is a global concept and advanced countries in the world subscribe to dialogue from time to time. That is what Nigeria has adopted to do and I believe this dialogue will bring about lasting peace and unity among the ethnic groups that make up Nigeria.
Therefore, we should support it, encourage it, be favourably disposed to it and I’m sure government is not planning to divert people’s attention. So, the setting up a panel on national dialogue should not be treated with disdain. Government should not be mocked because I believe that this is a noble objective that would bring about lasting peace and unity to our nation, Nigeria.
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