Northern delegates write Kutigi again, reject voice voting

The conference last Thursday removed the local governments from the constitution as third tier of government, approved the creation of 19 more states, and state police, among others.  But the Northern delegates rejected the resolutions as they argued that the deliberation was done in violations of Rule 10 of conference rules proceedings.The northern delegates had […]

The conference last Thursday removed the local governments from the constitution as third tier of government, approved the creation of 19 more states, and state police, among others.  
But the Northern delegates rejected the resolutions as they argued that the deliberation was done in violations of Rule 10 of conference rules proceedings.
The northern delegates had written a letter to the chairman last May on the same issues but the conference leadership took no action, Daily Trust learnt.
Daily Trust learned that yesterday’s letter was the outcome of the Northern Delegate Forum (NDF) meeting held in Abuja Sunday night.
Also, the NDF sent a delegation to the chairman last Thursday raising same issues.
Part of the letter read: “It will be recalled that, while being consulted by the President, the National Council of State, endorsed the idea of holding the National Conference and, by so doing, stipulated two important conditions namely: That the indivisibility and indissolubility of Nigeria is not subject to discussion or negotiation at the Conference and that all decisions at the conference shall be arrived at by consensus, failing which the council required that all resolutions shall be adopted by a majority vote of 75%.”
 The NDF  said at the commencement of debating the inaugural address of Mr. President, the conference had modified what percentage acceptance would be needed to pass a resolution from 75% to 70% majority vote which was the recommendation of the “50 Wiseman Committee”.
The Procedure Rules, 2014, which was adopted by the conference at plenary, was modified to reflect and enshrine this decision in Order 11 of the said Procedure Rule, 2014 namely: ‘all decisions of the Conference shall be arrived at by consensus, failing which the Chairman may, at his discretion, refer the matter for further consultations to achieve consensus of members. In the event this failed, the matter shall be decided by a vote of 70% majority of members present and voting.’”
The delegates stated further, “when deliberations commenced on the committee reports, the leadership of the conference resorted to the use of ‘voice vote’ to arrive at decisions on issues presented in reports by Committees or to amendments proposed by members to modify them.”
The NDF prayed that: “In view of the foregoing, we hereby call on the leadership of the conference to take urgent steps to provide proper guidance to delegates as we approach the conclusion of the assignment according to the extant Procedure Rules, 2014. In particular we call upon it to with immediate   effect, ensure that all decisions to be taken by conference are in strict compliance with Procedure Rules, 2014.
 “Consider revisiting all those decisions taken on July 2, 2014 that were in total violation of the Procedure Rule, 2014 by subjecting all issues that affect the foundation and structure of our federation and constitutional system to Order XI, Rules 1 and 2.”
When contacted, the conference Assistant Secretary on Media and Communications, James Akpandem told our reporter yesterday that he was not aware of the letter.