Tinubu to Jonathan: national conference will be fruitless

 

Tinubu

All Progressives Congress (APC) leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu said yesterday that President Goodluck Jonathan’s proposed national conference may end up as a wasteful and barren exercise.

He said rather than a fresh conference, the government should send the 118 recommendations of the 2005 National Political Reform Conference, without its third term provision, to the National Assembly for consideration as part of its ongoing constitution amendment.

In a statement yesterday, Tinubu raised several issues, which he urged those who genuinely support the proposed conference to carefully ponder.

He concluded that “there is mischief in the air” and that the conference is “a pointless and needless distraction”.

“I call on President Jonathan to abandon this fruitless path,” Tinubu said.

Tinubu had earlier described the proposed conference as a deception and Greek gift, which must be viewed with utmost caution and suspicion.

He told reporters on his return from overseas that the planned dialogue was ill-conceived, ill-timed, and ill-motivated, and that the Jonathan administration is demonstrably and incurably incapacitated to successfully oversee and actualise the objectives of such a crucial and sensitive exercise.

In the statement yesterday, the former Lagos State governor said rather than respond to him on points of fact and logic, the administration’s officials went on a fruitless voyage of personal attacks and insults.

Tinubu said he remained committed in his belief that fundamental constitutional changes would liberate the country from perennial crises, instability, disunity, poverty and underdevelopment.

According to him, he has first-hand experience of the negative effects of an overbearing and suffocating Federal Government that prevents the states from maximising their potentials in the best interest of their people.

For instance, he said Lagos State would today have been generating sufficient electricity to meet the needs of her people but for the monopolistic control of electricity supply by the Federal Government.

Despite his belief in the need for a fundamental restructuring, Tinubu is exceedingly suspicious of the ruling party’s motives.

The basis of his suspicion is that the Jonathan administration has ignored calls for a national conference for years, only to see the need for it in less than 15 months to the next general elections.

Tinubu questioned Jonathan’s decision to jettison previous similar conferences organised by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government.

He recalled that former President Olusegun Obasanjo made efforts in constitutional and political reforms.

One of such efforts is the National Political Reform Conference inaugurated on February 21, 2005, which had the late Chief Anthony Enahoro; former Commonwealth Secretary-General Chief EmekaAnyaoku, Chief Edwin Clark, Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), Senator Femi Okuroummu, Chief Arthur Nwankwo, among others, as delegates.

The assembly came up with 118 recommendations for far-reaching constitutional and political changes in Nigeria, but the entire work was discarded because of the third term agenda.

“Why then can’t the Jonathan administration simply remove that third term virus emphatically rejected by Nigerians and pass the other 117 recommendations for the consideration of the National Assembly as part of its on-going constitutional review and amendment exercise?

“Doesn’t every administration inherit the assets and liabilities of its predecessor?” Tinubu asked.

He recalled that in November 2011, Jonathan inaugurated the Justice Alfa Belgore Presidential Committee on the Review of Outstanding Issues from Recent Constitutional Conferences, but nothing has come out of its report submitted on July 11, last year.

Another presidential retreat was held for Civil Society Organisations and professional groups at the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja, on September 6, last year, with the theme: “Towards a People’s Constitution”.

“What excuse does he (Jonathan) then have for seeking to commence a fresh national conference towards the end of 2013 – barely 15 months to fresh elections?

“And this suspicious move is coming after the National Assembly has expended substantial public resources going round the country, collating views from individuals and groups in pursuit of its constitutional amendment exercise.

“If the decisions of the proposed national conference will still go back to the same National Assembly, are we not simply going round in meaningless circles or being served deception a la carte?”

“I urge those who genuinely support the proposed constitutional conference for national change to carefully ponder these issues. Surely, there is mischief in the air. This is a pointless and needless distraction. I call on President Jonathan to abandon this fruitless path,” Tinubu said.