ABUJA— DISCOUNTENANCING party affiliations, political and opinion leaders from the South-South zone converged on Abuja yesterday for the first ever meeting of the South-South Consultative Assembly aimed at exploring avenues to foster peace and unity in the troubled zone.
The issue of South-South Presidency in 2007 topped the agenda at the gathering with Senate President in the Second Republic, Dr. Joseph Wayas, giving it a push, although expressing disappointment at the political solution that led to the Act of the National Assembly abrogating the onshore/offshore dichotomy. The situation in his view was a mere “a palliative, which leaders of the zone accepted as a mark of sacrifice and in the interest of national unity, peace and progress as well as for the health of our nascent democracy.”
Speakers, among them Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, and National Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Chief Don Etiebet, sharing Wayas’ position, took their turn to hammer on the need for the zone to speak with one voice to reverse the political backwardness and under-development that have been its lot for decades.
Dr Wayas, who delivered a keynote address on the occasion in his capacity as Chairman of Conveners of the Committee of meeting, held at the Nicon Hilton Hotel, harped on the issue of the nation’s leadership and declared that it was the turn of the zone to produce the next president in 2007.
Said he: “We note with great disappointment the unbridled jostling for the presidency of the country in 2007 by other geo-political zones without any consideration for the South-South zone, which is yet to produce the president of the nation since 1960 till date. We demand that the time has come for justice and fair play to prevail. The South-South must be allowed to produce the next president of the country in 2007.”
Speaking further on the political solution that led to the Dichotomy Abrogation Act, Wayas said: “Today, this palliative is being challenged, unprovoked and without official reason by the same people for whom the sacrifice was made. It is no exaggeration to state that the South-South zone still remains physically devastated, despoiled and destroyed.
“The time has, however, come for us all to come together and work more vigorously for the enthronement of peace, development, unity and brotherhood amongst the people of the South-South,” stressing that the South-South Consultative Assembly has been founded “as the social forum and rallying point for the people of the South-South to foster unity, interaction and exchange ideas; and for the articulation of issues that will promote harmony, peaceful co-existence and well-being of the people and states in the South-South zone of Nigeria.
“The South-South Consultative Assembly will also encourage and support individuals, corporate bodies and institutions within and outside the zone desirous of investing and contributing to the development of the South-South. We have considered the various representations made by the youth, elders and our mothers and sisters and we wish to assure you all that the promotion of the interest and development of the zone will remain our paramount focus and objective,” he said.
Wayas commended the people of the zone “irrespective of their political affiliations, creed or belief to the South-South Consultative Assembly” and further expressed the gratitude of the zone to President Olusegun Obasanjo for establishing the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) .
