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National Conference, not 2007 Presidency, is priority, says Oyofo
From Alifa Daniel, Abuja
IN the thinking of Senator Victor Oyofo, the clamour for the 2007 Presidency should take the back seat. Rather, the former Chief of Whip of the Upper House feels that a national conference to re-work the country's constitution and work out the framework for the relationship among ethnic nationalities should be foremost.
Oyofo, who spoke to journalists in his home yesterday, said it had become imperative for the conference to hold because the 1999 Constitution with all its good in`tentions, has failed the country six years after it was put to practice.
The Edo North senator stated that the conference had become inevitable. "The national conference should look into the constitution itself, the way we associate, what is wrong with our system. The whole idea is that we now have six years, maybe we will soon have eight years of our new experiment, we should now look into the system and say where are the hang-ups? Everybody knows that I am Mr. President's man, but I like him because I see the single-mindedness, the Nigerian aspect, the fact that he wants to create a country, but he has practical limitations. Somebody, is caught in London with millions, he is buying houses everywhere, the President cannot do anything because the constitution doesn't allow him. So, if that constitution has now become an obstacle, then we have to do something to remove these aspects of the constitution that make it an impediment for social progress," he maintained.
Oyofo said further that with the tension in the Niger Delta and other parts of the country, it had become imperative for a conference to determine how we will live with ourselves, adding that the time had come for retracing our steps to the will of God. "When I say let us return to the will of God, I mean that in our actions, in our deeds let us show that we believe in the statement of love thy neighbour as thy self," the senator who is also the head of the Grail Movement in Nigeria, said.
He called on the leaders in the country to realise that leadership is a covenant with God to guide the people and best use the country's available resources to further the peoples' interest. "If we do this, then we will be calming the tension in this country right now," he said.
Oyofo added: "A lot of people have spoken of 2007, they are making plans but what we must ask ourselves is whether 2007 is not a certainty. It is only certain with God. So, let us apply ourselves before 2007 to do things that will ease tension and help ourselves. And that thing I believe is time for us to call a national conference."
The senator said that the states are too unweildy, weak and dependent, adding that it is better to use the six geo-political zones as the federating units.
"That way we can guarantee income for federating units, They will be sizeable enough to be able to develop their people... the issue of local government will be addressed by the national conference. People manipulated the idea of local government because the more there are the more you think you can get from the federation purse; it has become a destabilising force and if we go the way of the federating units being the zones, then they can set out among themselves how many local governments they want to have," he added.
On the issue of immunity clause which he said was the "most serious flaw," "most abused clause" that the drafters of the 1999 Constitution put in with good intentions to protect executive officers from frivolous law suits, Oyofo lamented that it has turned out to be the archilles heel of Nigeria's democracy.
Said he: "They have exploited that clause to perpetrate corruption that is so deep that nobody knows how we can get out of it. The consequence is that the democratic dividends are not percolating downwards. So if we don't do something people could just get tired about democracy and it will scuttle itself. You would say why can't you correct this clause. Well, the clause cannot be corrected because the constitutional requirement is that about 28 of the states have to agree to change it but naturally those who have trusted this clause to benefit themselves also control the states so this is the reason why it has become something beyond what can be done as was envisaged in the constitution."
On the issue of derivation, Senator Oyofo said that where minerals are got should be allowed to keep enough to develop themselves, and that God has given to each people what they are to exist on.
"If we encourage people to look within themselves for what they can do, we can create greater prosperity than we are doing now relying solely on oil. So what we have found in our language is sharing, nobody is talking of baking the cake, every body is talking of sharing it. This is disadvantageous to our own people because they become indolent", he added.
Oyofo advocated a derivation that supports the keeping of 40 per cent within areas that produce mineral resources while 60 per cent is used to develop the federation and that this formula will induce others to look within themselves to see what endowments they have.
Still on the inference, he said: "2007 is not sacrosanct. We have to remove the dangers on the way. We can decide through the conference whether to hold the election in 2007 or one or two years after. The issues to be addressed will determine the span of the national conference. There are diverse interests within the National Assembly that will not allow dispassionate approach to the conference. The conference will look beyond the National Assembly."
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