National dialogue:N/Assembly to decide on outcome – Jonathan

Jonathan stated this in Abuja when he received members of the Muslim community who paid him Sallah homage at the Presidential Villa. He noted that the dialogue is coming at a critical time when the National Assembly is working on amending the constitution. He added therefore that Nigerians should press on their legislators to ensure […]

Jonathan stated this in Abuja when he received members of the Muslim community who paid him Sallah homage at the Presidential Villa.

He noted that the dialogue is coming at a critical time when the National Assembly is working on amending the constitution. He added therefore that Nigerians should press on their legislators to ensure that the outcome reflects in the amendments to be made.
 “The results of the discussion, of course, will be passed to the National Assembly. It’s only left for all of us who are Nigerians to impress it on our representatives in the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly, because our state and federal parliaments must work together to ensure these are properly enshrined in our constitution,” he said.
 The President said some of the reports including the report of the Justice Mohammed Uwais committee on electoral reforms which are already beforethe National Assembly would be useful.
 He said: “Even the Justice Uwais’s committee that was set up, that report was passed on to the National Assembly in 2010. We brought Belgore and others and I said in 2005 Nigerians discussed some things; why don’t we begin to implement some of them.
 “So, we need to come up with some bills in those areas we have agreed and we will push them to the National Assembly. Of course, some of those bills have not come out from the National Assembly, but we believe that even in the constitution amendment that is going on, some will be useful.’’
 When the justice Uwais committee was sent to the Federal Executive Council under late President Yar’adua, the council rejected several aspects of the panel’s recommendations, amongst which was the appointment of the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] chairman by the National Judicial Council.
Shortly after Jonathan became Acting President, then Secretary to the Government of the Federation Alhaji Yayale Ahmed told demonstrating members of the Save Nigeria Coalition (SNC) in Abuja, that Jonathan had sent an ‘unaudited’ copy of the Uwais report to the National Assembly.
Although some recommendations of the committee like the conduct of elections 180 days to swearing-in found their way into the 2010 Electoral Act, the critical once especially which sort to increase the independence of INEC where discarded.
 President Jonathan urged politicians to stop utterances that incite and instigate hate in the hearts of children, saying the dialogue process must lead Nigerians to talk with a direction and not dissension.
  “In Nigeria, we must work very hard; we must talk to ourselves the way that our children will not develop hate amongst themselves. And that is one of the key reasons that we decided to have a conversation as a nation.
 “We decided that we cannot continue that way; the talking must have a direction. What had been happening on the pages of the newspapers are discussions that have no direction. We want a country that will have a direction, so the discussions must have a direction.
  He said the discussions must lead Nigeria “to where we want to be, not a divided Nigeria, not a Nigeria that is sown on hate.”  
“Also not a Nigeria that will be based on acrimony, ethnicity and tribal sentiments in the way we conduct ourselves,” he said.
President Jonathan thanked God that in spite of the challenges facing the country, the Muslims were able to celebrate the Eid-El-Kabir.
He urged Nigerians to inculcate in their children the virtues that would encourage unity in the country to ensure that the coming generations lived in peace. Jonathan said the spate of killings in some parts of the country has nothing to do with religion and ethnicity.
According to him, there are incessant killings in some parts of Nigeria because the entire world is experiencing terrorism.
“The killings have been going on in some parts of the country. It has nothing to do with religion and ethnicity. That is why I asked those who killed those 50 students (at Yobe College of Agriculture) whether they (assailants) even bothered about their religion or ethnicity? It has nothing to do with religion, it has nothing to do with ethnicity. It is because the world generally is experiencing terrorism”, Jonathan said.
Meanwhile Senate Leader Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba yesterday said the Senate will consider further amendments to the 1999 constitution to accommodate the report of the national dialogue.
Speaking to Daily Trust Senator Ndoma-Egba (PDP, Cross Rivers), said constitution amendment is a continuous exercise and as such the red chamber is bound to receive and consider constitution amendment bills forwarded to it by the executive.