KUTIGIA delegate to the National Conference from Osun State, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, has said the outcome of the ongoing conference will either make or mar Nigeria. Odumakin, who is also the National Publicity Secretary, Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afanifere declared that the delegates from the core North have been showing lackadaisical attitude to critical issues of restructuring, development and progress of the nation. Seye Olumide reports.
FORMER governor of Old Oyo State, Dr. Omololu Olunloyo and the Chairman Presidential Committee of National Conference, Dr. Femi Okunrounmu who is also a delegate to the conference recently raised fear on what may become the outcome of the parley. Do you share similar concern?
As a matter of fact, I have my reservation over the way the conference is going, but I never think it would bring nothing. What it would bring is what nobody knows yet.
I have said before the conference started that it would either make or mar the country. Nigeria cannot remain the same after this particular conference because of the level of awareness and the determination of the component units for self-actualisation.
My prayer is that this conference should make Nigeria. It should make the country a place where all the component units would agree to live and work together in peace, unity, understanding and justice.
Justice is very important otherwise if we are unable to achieve or reach a consensus now, I am afraid that this might be the last conference on Nigeria. People are already getting weary of the conference.
For instance what other things are we going to deliberate on constitution that Chief Obafemi Awolowo did not analyse in the various books he published on constitutions and pattern of governance before he died?
Late Pa Anthony Enahoro, who led the Pro-National Conference (PRONACO) also used his entire life to work on how Nigeria could get a good and viable constitution, in fact he died in the struggle.
Papa Omojola also died in the struggle for Nigeria to get a viable constitution. Are we going to use all the days of our life working on constitutions, when are we going to enjoy all the natural and Godly endowment in the country? When are we going to be constituted and enjoy God given natural and human resources when we spend all the decades looking for a good constitution? Or should we say that some people who are benefiting from the present lopsided constitutional arrangement in Nigeria are deliberately frustrating our collective efforts to have a good and viable constitution?
Today, Nigeria is bedeviled with the Boko Haram insurgency, resource control, king corruption, election manipulation and all sorts of setbacks.
I think this is going to be the last chance for us to restructure Nigeria and set it on the right path for the coming generation to excel.
How true is it that most of the agendas the South West, South East and the South-South delegates took to the conference suffered setback at the committees’ level because of the rigid position of the core Northern delegates?
What was clear at the committee level was that the core North came with the aim to retain the status quo in the country. They fought so hard to ensure that the issues that were critical to the survival of Nigeria, in terms of regional autonomy, power sharing, components units, resource control and other key issues alike, were shut out or watered down, at the committee level.
The committees’ were loaded right from the beginning of the conference but when we came back for the plenary, the secretariat carefully carried out an ambush by tactically pushing all the policies issues to the end of debate. In a very tactical manner, the reports of all the committees that dealt with critical issues were pushed to the end of debate. For instance, devolution of power is the last issues to be debated, policy and governance and others were pushed towards the end of the debate.
Unfortunately, we have spent a lot of time to discuss issues that are not so critical to the restructuring of the country. For instance how many days did we spend discussing religion, grazing reserves, homes and other non-critical matters?
Like I told one of the delegates, to me, it seems we came to the conference to discuss the issues affecting cattle instead of human beings and true federalism.
The discussion on grazing reserves almost divides the conference. We spent days on inconsequential issues. All that the core north delegates came to the conference to do is to discuss grassing reserves and other minor issues; hajj commission, water resources commission etc. The issues that are critical to the people of this nation were all pushed behind.
Surprisingly last week, the Chairman of the conference, Justice Idris Kutigi decided to change the goal post, when he said there is not going to be any debate due to lack of time but that we would just make some recommendations and take amendment to recommendations and that is all.
But the following day, Senator Aniete Okon, moved a motion, which I seconded and the motion was endorsed by Chief Edwin Clark, Chief Olu Falae, Major General. Ike Nwachukwu (rtd), AVM, Idongesit Nkanga, who is the leader of the South-South Peoples Assembly, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi and Dr. Femi Okunrounmu and other key leaders across the South stood by the motion.
What was the motion?
That we cannot shut down debate and if at all we are going to do that each of the zones should be allowed to pick five people, cutting across the various professional bodies and the ethnic groups, to debate on each reports before we start voting on deliberations.
Other people like the former Senate President, Ken Nnamani and Chief Mike Ahamba also stood by the motion. The chairman went out and came back and started saying tantrums. Alleging that some people have come to disrupt the conference but at the end of the day, we were not allowed to vote on that motion despite the fact that the rule of the conference says once a motion is moved and seconded, it has to be put to vote. In anger, the chairman said we should go back to what we were doing before.
This suggested to us that there was a deliberate attempt to stall and to whittle down the conference, or ensure that we don’t deal with those critical issues or that when we get to those issues we will just rush them and we won’t be able to achieve anything concrete out of it.
I think the conference has got to a very interesting stage where those key committees reports must be fast tracked for deliberations otherwise very soon the Ramadan will start and they will say they are going for umrah.
Does this confirm earlier views by some delegates that Justice Kutigi is playing the script of the core Northerners?
It would appear that Justice Kutigi is somehow sympathetic to the script of a section of this country that does not want us to discuss those core issues, which I called the life-wire of the country. All we have discussed so far is the software, and not the hardware of the nation. Without addressing the core issues that were pushed to the back, no matter what we came up with at the conference, it would not change anything.
How resolute are the delegates from the South to their agenda?
There is resoluteness on the part of the Southern delegates on the agenda they took to the conference.
The South West is resolute about its agenda on regionalism and autonomy; South-South is still very much interested on resource control and devolution of powers. I think that is what the core North noticed, a kind of solid bond among the delegates from the South, which they could no longer break. They could no longer play the usual divide and rule tactics.
In the past, the core North would have preferred to deal separately with the South West, South-South and the South East but that is not working this time around. The strong bond and unity among the delegates from the South is really frightening the delegates from the North.
So far the North has not been able to isolate the demands of each of the regions from the South in the conference. In fact, when they saw the South coming up with one voice on the motion that the conference cannot shutdown debate on critical issues, this sent a warning signal to them.
Even after the motion of Senator. Okon was debated, we adjourned the conference for about 10 minutes we came back at about 30 minutes and after we came back, all northern delegates were out of the hall. In fact, Dan Iwanyanwu had to call the attention of the chairman that all the northern delegates were not on seat, whether we should wait for them.
What I noticed is that an immovable object is trying to collide with an irresistible force.
With the way things are going in the conference are its opponents not being vindicated?
They are still wrong. This conference will achieve and it will achieve very much. It will produce something positive, but if this conference fails to address the issues that are affecting Nigeria, those issues are going to address every one of us. After this conference, I doubt if they are going to call anybody to conference again.
I stand by my words that this conference will either make or mar Nigeria. There is no way we are going to leave this conference and continue with the Nigeria we have today.
What is your reaction to the position of a group in the North, which says power, must shift at all cost to the aea in 2015?
They may be right if they say they were born to rule but to rule over whom? That was not part of the agenda when Nigeria was amalgamated in 1914. It was a mere illusion that the North is meant to rule over the South, that illusion ended yesterday.
If the North is not ready to accept that we are equal partners in this country, then they should forget it. I can tell you that the way the North is going about it, they may not get the power back in 2015.
The vote of the North alone cannot make anybody president in this country. If the North refuses to allow us restructure and they feel that all that matters is for them to take power back in 2015, then they are not sincere. Until and except we restructure Nigeria, I personally would never vote for any northerner, but if we restructure Nigeria, I will vote for anybody from any part of the country.
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