Daily Independent Online.
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Thursday, July 01, 2004.
Momoh backs Sovereign National Conference
By Rafiu Ajakaye, Lagos
Apparently
throwing his weight behind recurrent calls for a Sovereign National Conference
(SNC), former Minister of Information and Culture, Prince Tony Momoh said
Tuesday that the progress and development of the country depended on a
convocation of a national conference.
At
a lecture series hosted by the Times Journalism Institute, Lagos, Momoh said
the situation in the country today was like mining the democratic governance
and at the same time working towards its destruction because of what he
described as manipulating the constitution to the benefits of certain
individuals as against the due process.
“There is a need for a Sovereign
National Conference where the nationalities in the country would converge to
discuss burning issues of national interest. The only way Nigeria could be
governable would be through convening a national conference which would pave
the way for the realisation of a popular constitution,” he said.
The
Auchi-born eminent journalist averred that there was the need to urgently allow
Nigerians to sit side by side to define what nationality is, which, in his
view, will create an environment where Nigerians of various nationalities will live together without any feud.
“We
cannot continue to live under fears in this country. Military gave us this
constitution we are using today and it is fraudulent. Over 97,000 communities
are in this country. There is the need for a due process to prevail. The
military-oriented constitution
does not adequately appeal to the rights of both the majorities and the
minorities,” Momoh explained.
Speaking
on the concept of the SNC, he emphasised that the word sovereign, which seems
to be the fright of the government, was included because whatever consensus
reached by these nationalities
at the conference would prevail in the scheme of things.
He
noted that the military juntas held such conferences and the decisions reached
were manipulated by the people in government for their selfish interests.
Commenting
on the declaration of a state of emergency and the imposition of a sole
administrator in Plateau State, the former minister said although there could
be such declaration, the power to do that was not constitutionally vested in
the President but in the National Assembly.
The
worst the President can do, according to Momoh, is to canvass the concerned
state assembly to impeach the governor, which of course must follow a
constitutional process.
He
said: “The President has no power to sack a constitutionally elected
governor, only his cabinet could do so. And if at all you remove him, his
deputy should come in, then the speaker, and finally the chief judge of the
state, who will then organise another election. There was nothing like the use
of inherent power as claimed by Mr. President.”
