The Lagos State Chapter of the PDP on Thursday described the much-talked about sovereign national conference for Nigeria as desirable but nnecessary.
The party’s Chairman in the state, Chief Tunji Shelle, made the remark in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.
He said the clamour for convocation of a constitutional conference was not the solution to the country’s constitutional problems.
“What those who are clamouring for the national conference want is the abrogation of the nation’s entire Constitution.
“For many, it is simply for selfish reasons but at the end, nothing much will be achieved by such a conference,” the PDP chieftain said.
Shelle called for caution among those demanding the convocation of the conference, to avoid over-heating the polity.
The PDP chief advised the regions and groups canvassing for the conference to collate such inputs and forward them to the National Assembly for consideration.
“The lawmakers may have their shortcomings but they represent the people.
“The National Assembly remains the best we can have for now and it must be allowed to operate optimally,” he said.
According to him, care must be taken not to draw the nation back or do anything that will stop Nıgerıa from moving on.
Meanwhile the Pro-National Conference (PRONACO), said the only way out for Nigeria was for the federating units to come up with a common agenda through a national dialogue.
“Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gun powder and a national conference is inevitable,” PRONACO Spokesman, Mr Wale Okuniyi said.
Okuniyi said there was need for a Constitution put together by the people of Nigeria, rather than “the faulty document foisted on the nation by a junta.
“Nigerians did not have a substantial input in the present 1999 Constitution.
That Constitution will burst, if we continue to patch it.
“The lawmakers cannot do it for Nigeria. They are elected to make laws based on the Constitution.
“Nigeria needs a peoples’ Constitution, to give strength to the National Assembly,” Okuniyi argued.