*The submission of the National Conference report to President Goodluck
Jonathan on 21 August, 2014, was as relieving as it was historic. Going by
the gale of criticisms that accompanied the idea from certain quarters, and
the fears –genuine and imagined – expressed over its deliberations,
many *Nigerians
were right to be apprehensive. Fears were rife that a national conference
at this point in our history would further divide, rather than unite
Nigerians. However, five months after its inauguration, the conference
wound up on a very successful and heart-warming note.
From its optimistic outcome, it is right to say that it is the most
successful post-independent conference of its kind, and one whose report
has the potential to recreate the nation and put it on the path of real
greatness. However, for the 494 Nigerians assembled to address the
nation’s fears, disappointments, aspirations and hopes which have
accumulated over 100 years, it was not a tea party. The favourable outcome
of their deliberations becomes even more remarkable when viewed against the
arguments that preceded it.
While some people contended that Nigeria’s integrity would be compromised
by such a conference, others said it would lead to the nation’s
disintegration. For some unscrupulous politicians, it was an opportunity
like no other to denigrate President Jonathan and play the usual political
subterfuge. All sorts of weird motives were imputed into that singular
effort to bridge the gap of mistrust among our peoples, their nationalities
and address issues in our nationhood. Yet, for a third group, it was
simply a design by Jonathan to shore up popularity and increase his support
base against the 2015 election in which he is expected to stand. To this
third group, the explanation that the conference will further strengthen
our understanding, expand the frontiers of our inclusiveness and deepen our
bond as one people, was simply a smokescreen.
These all made the delegates’ mandate of charting a new course for Nigeria
more arduous. In the end, however, patriotism prevailed: their work did
not end up another exercise in futility as the sceptics had predicted. The
outcome was resounding in its overall success. Leading the tirade against
the National Conference was Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu. For a man who had
severally made a case for the convocation of a national conference, his
*volte-face* was as intriguing as it was hypocritical. As usual with any
political project that does not feed his warped ego and clannish interests,
Tinubu questioned government’s sincerity and dismissed the exercise as
deceptive.
It was most absurd coming from the leader of the opposition All
Progressives Congress (APC). But then, opposition to the conference was
not limited to the APC as support for the conference was not unanimous even
within the President’s Peoples Democratic Party. For the like of Jigawa
State governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, who is becoming notorious for
consistently playing the ethnic card, the dialogue lacks constitutional
backing and is a flagrant abuse of democratic institutions. Even from
Jonathan’s backyard in the South-south, the Movement for the Emancipation
of the Niger Delta (MEND) believed the national conference was only for
“the therapeutic benefits of letting off steam…†with nothing else
to offer.
How wrong they have all turned out to be! Why would President Jonathan
shore up his popularity by promoting a project that is as controversial as
the National Conference? Truth be told, the President must be commended
for showing courage and for responding in the best possible way to the
reality of emerging challenges in our national life. Not only did his
decision to set up the confab pander to the yearnings of the people, it
also provided an impartial platform to realistically examine and genuinely
resolve long-standing impediments to our cohesion and harmonious
development as a united nation. That it received the backing of a broad
spectrum of the nation’s political leadership across party and ideological
lines, not least the leadership and members of the National Assembly,
speaks volumes.
Its success has also vindicated him and put a lie to the imputations of
personal interest by those who rejected the idea for their selfish or
partisan reasons. His sincerity in embarking on that project is further
underscored by the fact that no so-called “no go” areas were established
and the deliberations took place without the government interfering in any
way. The task has been the more arduous than any of the four earlier
post-independence Conferences in Nigeria: it did not only have the highest
membership, it also sat for the shortest period: four and a half months. In
addressing and subsequently approving over 600 resolutions, mostly on
fundamental issues of law, public policy and the constitution, it showed
uncommon courage in dealing with all the divergent tendencies that came
into play.
As the conference chairman, Justice Idris Kutigi, surmised at the report
presentation, the fact that all the conference resolutions were adopted by
consensus, and without having to vote or come to a division on any matte,r
however, important, was remarkable. So too is the fact that the official
Report of the Conference, including annexures of 22 volumes of
approximately 10,335 (ten thousand, three hundred and thirty-five) pages,
was also adopted unanimously. All these send a clear message that Nigerians
are capable of discussing and resolving their differences with minimal
rancour.
Ever since the conference wound up, a preponderance of public opinion has
endorsed the recommendations. Only the government’s worst critics would
not be persuaded that after-all, the merit in the conference as a platform
for a genuine and sincere dialogue among Nigerians, is overwhelming. It
has further made evident, the fact that Nigerians are not deeply antagonist
against one another, no matter their religious, regional and ethnic
backgrounds. Previous conferences may have produced a basis for Nigeria’s
independence or a system of government that best suits our diversity. The
last one has a clear direction: it has created a roadmap to the national
rebirth that Nigeria presently craves, if the report is sincerely
implemented.
–
*Momodu contributed this piece from Benin City, Edo State.*