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By Charles Ozoemena, Emma Ujah, & Chris Ochayi, Abuja
Saturday, May 29, 2004
THE Federal Government accepted yesterday to convene a National Conference
to deliberate on the co-existence of ethnic nationalities in a Nigerian federal state, thus bowing to persistent
pressures for the conference.
Vice President Atiku Abubakar announced this at the stakeholders� conference
on political reforms in Abuja organised as part of this year�s celebration of democracy day in the country in Abuja.
He said that the conference would likely be convened before the expiration of this administration.
�I�m not against the convening of a National Conference and the president
is not against it. I think we will have one before the end of this second tenure�, Atiku said, thus becoming the
first time such a high ranking government official will speak on the matter.
Scores of speakers during the conference had tied the faith of the nation
to organizing the conference before 2007, following the outbreak of ethno-religious crises in some parts of the
country. They argued that Nigerians must negotiate their future under a federation, adding that government was
not opposed to the call for constitutional and electoral reforms.
�I agree with the need to subject the Nigerian Constitution to democratization.
But we must look at the peculiarities of the Nigerian nation. These are ethnic, religious and geo-political diversities.
These are practical conditions facing Nigeria�, Atiku said. He disagreed.
with the suggestion made by Prof. Ben Nwabueze that Nigeria could learn
from the progress recorded in some Franco-phone countries like Benin Republic and Togo.
The Vice President said there was no basis for comparison as sit-tight leaders, who transformed from military rulers
to pseudo-democrats, were running these countries.
According to him, �If Nigeria is to democratize its constitution, it must
avoid the Franco-phone case studies where a clique write the constitution and just ask the people to okay it. It
is a matter of interpretation�. While acknowledging the loopholes in the nation�s electoral reforms, he said that
Nigeria shall study the electoral system of South Africa with the aim of improving on what Nigeria has.
Speakers at the conference including Justice Mohammed Lawal Uwais, Chief Justice of Nigeria; Dr. Brigadia Bam,
Chairperson of the South African Independent Electoral Commission and Prince Bola Ajibola, former Justice of the
World Court at the Hague, had advanced �that electoral legitimacy should be premised on free and fair elections,
credible leadership and good governance�.
The Chief Judge of the federation, Justice Uwais, represented by Justice
Alfa Belgore, had made case for a review of the constitution, arguing that the original constitution had been tampered
with during the long years of military interregnum.
Welcoming the guests at the conference, the political adviser to the President, Prof. Jerry Gana, spoke against
election rigging and called for the promulgation of a law that would deal with people that rig elections in the
same manner coup plotters were dealt with in the military.
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