National conference: North plots to scuttle resolutions

Barely two weeks to the end of the on­going National Conference in Abuja, delegates have drawn the last battle line in a move that may make or mar successes record­ed so far at the Confab.

Already, delegates from core northern states, in the North-East and North-West geo-political zones, with the exception of Christian minorities, have allegedly resorted to blackmail in a bid to force the leadership of the Conference to re­scind resolutions that have been reached so far by del­egates.

Many observers believe that the delegates from core northern states are crying foul because recent events at the conference had shoved them to a mi­nority. For this reason they may have resolved to fight back to scuttle some reso­lutions reached.

Recall that few days after the Conference committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Government gave its nod to the creation of an additional state in the South-East, core northern delegates kicked against it.

Acclaimed spokesman for the northern delegates at the Conference and for­mer Publicity Secretary of the Arewa Consultative Fo­rum (ACF), Anthony Sani, had described the agitation for an additional state as misplaced.

Sani had argued that the agitation for the creation of an additional state for the South-East in order to ‘pac­ify’ the zone was faulty, as no one had wronged any­one.

He had said: “When people say we should cre­ate states to pacify them (South-East), the impres­sion one gets is that a wrong has been done. It is not so.

“To create states, there are conditions that must be met. One, how homoge­neous the population is the landmass and lastly, the vi­ability. All these are there.

“We have insisted, in the light of so many created states, and which have led to the underdevelopment of the country, because some are not viable, that is it will be politically incorrect to still create states. We have to address that.

“I feel a bit worried when the South-East insists that on the basis of equal­ity, there must be six states. When people say appease, it is as if they have been wronged.

“South-West was a re­gion and it has six states. The old Eastern Region has nine. The whole of the North, which is half or even more than half of the coun­try, has just 19. You do not just create states like that”.

On whether the northern delegates will shoot down the proposal before the final report of the Confer­ence, Sani had affirmed that the north would move against it, stressing that it would amount to injustice against her people.

“If it is on the basis of equality that they are mak­ing that suggestion, we are going to counteract it. Have they forgotten that injustice is not just when equals are treated unequally, but when unequals are treated equal­ly?” he had posited.

Unfortunately for core northern delegates, the Conference last Thursday overwhelmingly voted in support of an unconditional creation of additional state in the South-East.

North’s strong opposi­tion to the scrapping of lo­cal government administra­tion from the constitution was thwarted by southern delegates, with massive support from delegates from North-Central and minority delegates from North-East and North-West.

Plans by core northern delegates to maintain the status quo in other criti­cal areas were massively defeated. Rotational presi­dency between the North and South, creation of state police, reversal of current national anthem, among others, which northern del­egates were against got the overwhelming nod of the Conference.

Angered by their ap­parent monumental loss, delegates drawn particu­larly from North-East and North-West condemned last Thursday’s adoption of key recommendations of the Conference committee report on Political Restruc­turing and Forms of Gov­ernment.

A statement purportedly signed by Kano State del­egate, Dr Auwalu Yadudu on behalf of northern del­egates and circulated to a section of the media, reject­ed the entire resolution of the Conference committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Government.

The delegates alleged that some of the contro­versial issues approved were  lifted out of a docu­ment they claimed was not prepared by a Conference committee.

The aggrieved dele­gates operating under the Northern Delegates Forum (NDF), agreed to reject the resolutions, insisting that they must be rescinded.

The aggrieved delegates further accused the Con­ference leadership of bias, alleging that there was cal­culated plan to adopt all the recommendations made by the Chief Raymond Dok­pesi group’s “Terms of Agreement by Six-Geopo­litical Zones”, which many of the aggrieved delegates are members of.

The statement reads in part: “The Northern Del­egates Forum met July 3, 2014 and reviewed what transpired at plenary. After an exhaustive review, del­egates adopted the follow­ing resolutions: “We note that decisions have been ar­rived at in total disregard of the Procedure Rules, 2014 in respect of issues such as removal of the list of local governments from the con­stitution, local government councils financing, adop­tion of State Constitution, a motion to adopt reference and State Constitution.

“The chairman refused flatly to recognize several members who had indicat­ed intention to raise a point of order in respect of the method of arriving at deci­sions by voice vote. This is contrary to Order XI which provides as follows: All de­cisions of the conference at plenary and committee stage shall be reached by consensus or in the absence of that, the chairman shall at his discretion adjourn proceedings to allow for further consultations. In the event of failure to reach a solution, it shall be decided by a vote of three quarter majority.” The Sun