LEADERS from Yorubaland and the North, on Thursday, rose from a
crucial meeting in Ikenne-Remo, Ogun State pushing for the convening of
an urgent national dialogue to tackle the current frightening challenges
facing the nation.
In a six-point communiqué, the leaders, who met for about four hours
at the residence of the Awolowos, noted that such dialogue was a matter
of utmost priority in order to address some fundamental issues that were
impeding national unity and progress.
In the communiqué signed by the Deputy Leader of the Youruba Unity
Forum [YUF], Bishop Emmanuel Bolanle Gbonigi and the national Chairman
of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Alhaji Aliko Mohammed, the
leaders identified corruption, bad governance and insecurity as a few of
the core challenges.
Members of the ACF delegation included the Chairman, Alhaji Aliko
Mohammed, who is the former chairman of Bank of the North, Daily Times,
NICON Insurance and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); Senator J.K.L
Waku; Ambassador Ladan Shuni; a former Inspector General of Police,
Alhaji (Dr) Ahmadu Ibrahim Coomasie; former military administrator of
Plateau and Katsina States as well as one=time Principal Officer in the
Presidential Villa, Major General Lawrence Onoja.
Others include Ambassdor Ibrahim Sule, who was once Nigeria’s
ambassador to Indonesia; Major General M.A Umar ; Senator Abubakar
Direi, who is the current Secretary General of Senators’ Forum; Bitrus
Edward Gwadah (ACF national legal adviser and former lecturer at the
Ahmadu Bello University Zaria); Mallam Bukar Zarma (former editor of New
Nigerian); Mr Anthony N.Z Sani (ACF Publicity Secretary and former
permanent secretary in Plateau State).
The list also comprised Honourable Musa Tanko Abari (former House of
Representatives member); Alhaji Abubakar Husaini Moriki (former
Secretary to the Zamfara State Government); Enginner Abubakar Umar (ACF
Assistant Secretary General); Colonel M.A Abdu (retd) from Yobe State);
Fatima E.Ibrahim (ACF deputy publicity secretary); and Colonel Musa Sheu
(retd) (ACF Secretary-General and former military governor of Rivers
and Plateau States).
While attributing bad leadership to these challenges, they
underscored the need for Nigerians to de-emphasise issues such as
ethnicity and religion “that tend to divide us but to always emphasise
those ones that bind us together as a nation.”
The leaders, who affirmed their commitment to the unity, progress and
stability of the country, governed with a sense of justice, equity and
fairness, declared that free, fair and credible elections were germane
for selfless and committed leadership to emerge in the country.
To underscore the gains of the meeting, they sated that such
interactions among the various groups and interests within the country
should be encouraged and sustained with a view to boosting mutual trust
and confidence.
At the opening session of the meeting hosted by the matriarch of the
Awolowo family, Chief (Mrs) HID Awolowo, the leaders used the occasion
to set an agenda on the planned constitution review capable of restoring
the nation’s past glory.
The ACF chairman led a powerful 18-man delegation to the meeting,
which was chaired by Mama Awolowo in her capacity as the Chairman of
YUF.
In her opening remark, she set the tone of the discussion by
emphasising the imperative of North-South-West interactions as a way of
stabilising the polity and indeed the nation.
Lauding the initiative, she said it was in a similar spirit that the
YUF had been holding meetings with leaders from the South-South and the
South-East towards building a bridge of understanding and cooperation.
Her message was corroborated by her deputy, Bishop Gbonigi, who
described the Ikenne meeting as historic, timely and auspicious, giving
the current state of the nation, recalling that such interaction between
leaders from the two geographical divide was only held during the
bitter struggle that culminated in civil rule in 1999.
The cleric hoped that the latest effort would not only be sustained
but would also herald the beginning of mutual cooperation and
understanding among the various units of the federation.
Gbonigi said the meeting was propitious since experience had shown
that when the “West and the North are able to forge a consensus on
national problems and or a corrective agenda, a broader national
consensus is often much more readily achieved.”
The cleric expressed the optimism that the meeting of the two regions
would usher in a new era in the history of inter-ethnic cooperation and
harmony that would strengthen national unity, premised on equal access
to political and economic opportunities.
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, who was represented by one of
his wives, Olori Morisola Sijuwade, also drummed support for the
fortification of the country against divisive tendencies, praying God to
direct the political leaders aright.
…ACF slams political parties, says they are clones of one another
Break up not solution to Nigeria’s problem
The
leader of the ACF delegation, Alhaji Mohammed, in a position paper on
North’s stand on some of the topical issues confronting the country,
said it was erroneous to think Nigeria’s problems were as a result of
its size and the diversity of its population.
He said countries like India, Indonesia, Brazil, Germany and Tanzania
which are as ethnically diverse as Nigeria, had managed their diversity
by entrenching true democracy that had brought development to their
countries.
The ACF stressed the need to tackle the problems of poverty,
illiteracy, unemployment and reduce the number of Nigerians living below
“humanity’s minimum material standard of existence.”
“Of deeper concern to every patriot, however, is the fact that rather
than inspire greater positive effort and bring about more purposeful
leadership and the best in every Nigerian, these dire hardships have
tended to boost recrimination, animosity and division along ethnic,
religious and regional lines.
Role of the South West in national rebirth
“The
South West politicians pride themselves as progressives with strong
belief in social justice. Consequently, they are regarded as the jaunty
face of democratic values. Yorubas will therefore be the first to admit
that democracy premised on the triple foundations of liberty, justice
and common decency, is yet to take root in the polity and others things
will follow.
“That is to say, once democracy as a contest of ideas and reasons are
in place, the people’s votes will count; and when the people’s votes
count, they would elect leaders of their choice who will account to the
people; the people will exercise their judgment during elections. That
way, such judgments will determine conduct of government.
“But currently, Nigerians are not very enthusiastic about elections
for the simple reason that the political parties do not offer viable
alternative platforms, since they are mere clones of one another.
On constitution amendment
“As a zone that flaunts
the best lawyers, the South-West knows that no matter how good laws may
be, their usefulness too in any society has a lot more to do with
judgment of the practitioners. A situation where people who have been
indicted for corrupt practices still walk free in the street, and some
of them win elections to make laws for the country speaks volumes about
the quality of our criminal justice system and its capacity to deliver a
great nation.
Cautions on clamour for federal restructuring
ACF
said the call for rethinking of the country’s federal structure should
be predicated on building a “republic of ideals and ideas driven by
national solidarity” considering the multi-ethnic diversity of the
country rather than the clamour for a “republic of separate communities
with undue ties to tribe, religion of other primordial entities.”
Condemns state police
It opined that the call for
state police should be discountenanced because the country’s democracy
was not mature for it, asking exponents of the proposal to look
critically into what state governors do with state independent electoral
commissions (SIECs).
Opposes single tenure for president, others
While
describing the proposal as inappropriate because it will not provide
incentive for good performance, ACF said public office holders would
seize the opportunity of a single tenure to milk the commonwealth.
The northern body proposed that an incumbent president should not be
allowed to contest an election in which he is a candidate to give room
for a credible election.
“Indeed, if the reason for single tenure is to reduce abuse of
incumbency, we will do well to study how other countries that faced
similar problem tackled theirs without throwing away the baby with the
bath water.
“Chile, for example, allows multiple tenure on the condition that
they are not consecutive. That is to say, no candidate organises an
election in which he is a candidate. That explains why the last
President of Chile, Madam Michelle, despite her overwhelming popularity,
could not contest in the last elections.
“In Bangladesh, a caretaker government conducts elections. So Nigeria
should devise its own way of dealing with abuse of incumbency and not
kill motivation that is an important instrument for management of human
affairs,” ACF said.
The socio-cultural organisation stressed that the challenges
confronting the nation were not insurmountable, noting that progress and
solution would come through “robust discourse” and the upholding of the
sacrosanct goal of a united country.
There was an exchange of gifts between the two bodies with the
country’s former Ambassador to the Netherlands, Dr Tokunbo
Awolowo-Dosumu presenting some of the books authored by the sage, Chief
Obafemi Awolowo to the northern delegation on behalf of YUF leader,
Chief (Mrs) HID Awolowo.
ACF leader to the meeting, Alhaji Mohammed, presented a big framed
memorable quote of the late northern leader, Sir Ahmadu Bello to their
hosts.
The delegation was also received by the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, at his Oke Mosan office.
Amosun, who called for peaceful co-existence among all ethnic
nationalities in the country, identified poverty as the cause of
agitation and violence among Nigerians.
Credit: Tribune
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