LAGOS — CHIEF Anthony Enahoro and other leaders of the pro-democracy movement have set out guidelines on how a national conference should be convoked, and expressed doubts about the sincerity of President Olusegun Obasanjo in initiating a National Dialogue Committee.
Speaking at a press conference in Lagos yesterday on behalf of Pro-National Conference Organisation (PRONACO), Chief Enahoro expressed dissatisfaction at the composition of the Makarfi Committee, which is charged with the production of a background paper that would form the basis for dialogue by a broadly composed national body soon to be constituted.
"From the composition and terms of reference of the committee, it is doubtful if President Obasanjo’s process will address the fundamental questions bedeviling Nigeria," the elder statesman said, adding that "the steps so far taken have been greeted with suspicion and lack of enthusiasm."
The eminent nationalist said the position of PRONACO was for the "emergence of a reinvented Nigeria through the convocation of National Conference that is sovereign, independent and a creation of and for the diverse peoples of Nigeria i.e a conference that is not manipulated by any authority or person."
Chief Enahoro, who spoke on behalf of other members of PRONACO — Dr. Beko Ransome Kuti of Citizen Forum and Dr. Keziah Awosika of Women Law and Development Centre — outlined the conditions which the conference must fulfil, thus: "All delegates shall be elected by the people they represent, in place of being appointed by government; a representation of all nationalities or groups of nationalities at the conference; a provision for the representation of pan-Nigeria special interest group, including labour, employers' association, professional groups, the armed forces, civil service, police, women, human rights groups, organised religious groups, mass movements etc."
As a guide, he declared that "the agenda of the conference shall not be imposed by the government of the day, i.e. the conference shall determine its agenda and there shall be no-go areas and the discussions shall embrace: restructuring of the country with federating units being freely determined, the powers of the centre and the federating units, the governmental system (presidential or parliamentary), fiscal federalism, independent institutions such as the electoral commission, the status of religion, women’s rights, etc."
The conference, Chief Enahoro said, shall be convened and supervised by the diverse groupings in the nation and the conference shall freely choose its officials and make rules for regulating its procedures and that the decisions of the conference shall become the raw material for a new constitution and the decisions of the conference shall be binding on all authorities and persons and shall only be subject to a national referendum.
