Nigeria’s 911 Conference?

The objectives of the conference remain unclear and its timing surprising. However, many believe that this national conference, just like those convened by Gen Sani Abacha (rtd) and President Olusegun Obasanjo, is designed to seek mileage for President Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election.The confab which opened yesterday at the Muhammed Bello Centre of the […]

The objectives of the conference remain unclear and its timing surprising. However, many believe that this national conference, just like those convened by Gen Sani Abacha (rtd) and President Olusegun Obasanjo, is designed to seek mileage for President Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election.
The confab which opened yesterday at the Muhammed Bello Centre of the National Judicial Institute holds a lot of expectations as well as trepidations. It is taking place against the background of monumental corruption, unprecedented insecurity, relentless kidnapping, unstoppable power outage, massive unemployment, political fraud, etc, that have all enveloped the country. Some people said it is precisely for the reoccurrence of these phenomena that a national conference is needed.
So many groups are already alienated from this conference. There are only 193 Muslims among the 492 in a country with more than half Muslim population. There are only 72 women among the delegates, despite the fact that female population in Nigeria outstrips that of male. Such groups as Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), the South West Governors, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), the Itsekiri, Badagry indigenes, Association of former speakers of state legislatures, association of traditional worship-pers of indigenous gods, etc, the Albinos and people with disabilities, have all complained of marginalisation in the membership of the conference.
This conference will not be concluded in three months. It is a talk shop that has no legal backing and depends on the National Assembly to actualise its proposals. It has members who will raise some of the most emotive issues. Chief Edwin Clark, the self-acclaimed Ijaw leader, will charge that South-South or Jonathan is entitled to four more years because their own part of the country produces crude oil which proceeds sustain Nigeria. He will be helped by the likes of Professor Jerry Gana and Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife; the latter cheerleader had actually claimed in an interview that unless Jonathan is re-elected, Nigeria will disintegrate. The point has been made previously that this conference affords Jonathan the opportunity to put at his beck and call all those willing to push his agenda to remain in power.
Of course, the All Progressives Congress (APC), the nemesis of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has given the conference a wide berth, insisting like so many Nigerians do that Jonathan should concentrate on fulfilling the many electoral promises he made to Nigerians dating back to his days as Yar’adua’s Vice President. The APC has correctly observed that this conference is meant to divert attention from the most important problems facing the country as well as the president’s inability to solve them. A conference that will cost the tax payer a huge amount of N12 million per delegate is the most unimaginative way of wasting the country’s time and resources.
Nevertheless, Jonathan or whoever the PDP fields, will still face the electorate come next year. Nobody will be clownish enough to suggest that we push election time further to accommodate some non-binding conference resolutions. That is when we will know whether the president has divided Nigerians enough to ignore the fact that good governance or lack of it is the issue not the tribe, religion or language spoken by the country’s leader.
Most of the delegates wouldn’t have made it if the basis of their membership were to be determined through election. A majority of them are unelectable and they know it. That is why they will relish this opportunity to stay in cosy hotels, be chauffeur-driven and smile to the bank with a cool cash of N4 million per month, and is the reason why many of them will do the piper’s bidding. For this category, this sort of conference may provide an opportunity to acquire a power base that has eluded them in the current political arrangement. Since some of them are paper politicians lacking grassroots support, the conference may help them gain relevance.
Mark you; there is nothing new that the delegates are going to say which has not been said before now. It is going to be repeated, either rudely or otherwise that the North is parasitic and doesn’t bring anything to the table and should therefore hands off its hold on power permanently! It will be interesting to hear the reply of northern delegates such as Alhaji Magaji Dambatta, Dr Junaid Muhammed and Dr Haruna Yerima, former IGP Gambo Jimeta, etc.
Despite the fact that there are clowns, young and old, among the conference delegates, there are also some patriots who can give effect to the genuine desires for Nigeria to be strengthened, to be improved and to work better for the citizens. Would Kabiru Yusuf say information is free even with the FOI? Would Joe Okei-Odumakin, Awwal Rafsanjani and Pastor Tunde Bakare say this democracy affords us sufficient human rights? Would former police chiefs Gambo Jimeta, Ibrahim Coomassie and R.O. Osanaiye, or Brig Idada Ikponmwen (rtd) and Gen Zamani Lekwot (rtd) agree that our police and army are professional enough? Would retired JSC Uthman Muhammed Argungu, Justice F.F. Tabai and Justice Veronica Ngozi Ume agree that our judiciary is corrupt and suggest way out? Would Hajiya Mariya Waziri, Hajiya Ramatu Usman and Mrs Remi Kuku say women are fairly treated in our country? If this conference succeeds it will be because of a few patriots determined to remake Nigeria. Will the conferees be civil with one another? Will they proffer solutions to the country’s myriad of problems? Will the conference end up in a fight or boycott? Will this conference address Nigeria’s emergency condition and provide a 911 solution? Will this confab be a positive turning point for Nigeria?