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After nearly five months of sitting, the National Political Reform Conference ended in a stalemate on Monday.
After nearly five months of sitting, the National Political Reform Conference ended in a stalemate on Monday.
The stalemate was as a result of the inability of the conference to settle the acrimony between the North and the South-South over the marginal increase in derivation fund from 13 per cent to 17 per cent.
Monday's reconvened sitting, which was boycotted by the South-South delegates, except three - the Second Republic President of the Senate, Dr. Joseph Wayas from Cross River State; a representative of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Sam Ogbemudia, and the President, Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole - ended in acrimony as delegates disagreed on the propriety or otherwise of the method adopted for ending the conference.
The Conference Chairman, Justice Niki Tobi, had, after the adoption of the motion for the endorsement of some proposals, declared the conference closed without taking counter-motions despite the fact that some delegates had their hands raised up.
The final stage for the sudden closure of the conference was set a few hours earlier when the leadership of the conference could not persuade the Northern and South-South delegates to shift their positions on the increase in derivation fund.
The meeting, held on Sunday between 4 pm and 10.15 pm at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, could not resolve the deadlock that arose on June 14 as a result of the adoption of the four per cent increase in derivation fund.
The marginal increase was rejected by the South-South.
Shortly after the meeting, which was attended by all the leadership, the zonal and states' leaders and chairmen of the 19 committees of the conference, the delegates from the South-South addressed a news conference during which they confirmed told journalists that they would boycott Monday's session.
According to the South-South leaders, there was no need attending the plenary session if issues that were dear to the zone had been decided without their input.
When the plenary session resumed at 9 am after three postponements in the last one month, the absence of the South-South delegates led to an adjournment by Tobi for one hour to deliberate with the conference leaders on the next step to take.
The meeting of the conference leaders, which rose at about 10 am, agreed on some proposals that were read to the plenary session by the NPRC Secretary, Rev. Father Matthew Hassan Kukah, and adopted by the delegates.
The proposals included:
*That all the recommendations of the 19 committees of the conference, except those relating to the contentious issues which were later referred to the Committee of Leaders of State Delegations for further consideration, be adopted as the recommendations of the conference.
*That the recommendations of the Committee of Leaders of State delegates on the contentious issues on which the State Leaders reached agreement, excluding the issues of resource control and the tenure of the office of the President and Governors, be adopted as the recommendations of the conference on the said issue.
*That on resource control, in addition to the points on which agreement was reached in the Committee on Revenue Allocation and Fiscal Federalism, the conference recommended the following package:
-A clear affirmation of the inherent right of the people of the oil producing areas of the country not to remain mere spectators but to be actively involved in the management and control of the resources in their communities by having assured places in the Federal Government mechanisms for the management of the oil and gas exploration and marketing.
-An expert commission should be appointed by the Federal Government to study all the ramifications of the industry including revenue allocation with a view to reporting within a period of not more than six months, how the mineral resources concerned can best be controlled and managed to the benefit of the people of both the states where the resources are located and of the country as a whole;
-An increase in the level of derivation from the present 13 per cent to 17 per cent, in the interim pending the report of the expert commission. Delegates from the South-South and other oil producing states insisted on 50 per cent as the irreducible minimum. Having regard to national unity, peace and stability, they are willing to accept, in the interim, 25 per cent derivation with a gradual increase to attain the 50 per cent over a period of five years.
-That on the tenure of office of the President and the governors, the conference should adopt the following recommendation:
*The majority decision of the conference was the retention of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, which stipulates a term of four years for the President and the Governors, including a possible re-election of an incumbent for another term of four years. However, the minority favoured the adoption of a single term of six years for the President and a single term of five years for Governors without the possibility of re-election."
The proposals are to be incorporated into a report, which will be presented to President Olusegun Obasanjo at a later date.
Tobi also announced that the delegates would return to Abuja on a date to be fixed later to sign the report upon the completion of the assignments of the Constitution Drafting Committee and Report Writing Committee.
However, there were protests by some delegates over the procedure used to adopt the report.
After the leader of the Arewa Consultative Forum to the conference, Major-General Ibrahim Haruna (rtd), moved the motion for the adoption of the proposals, with Alhaji Abdullahi Bayero seconding, the quest by some delegates to move a counter-motion was disallowed by Tobi.
The National President, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Mr. Smart Adeyemi, who attempted to move a counter-motion, told newsmen that it was wrong for the chairman to entertain a substantive motion without accepting a counter-motion, noting that it was not the norm of a normal conference.
Adeyemi said, 'He (Tobi) called for a motion to be moved to adopt the report of the leaders' committee.
'In any democratic gathering, once a motion is moved, you make a call to know if there is any counter-motion.
'He called on somebody to move the motion, I now raised my hand up to say I have a counter-motion but the man just called for adoption and stopped the conference.
'I wonder why the man should do like that because by doing that you are creating an impression that there is a script before you."
A dependable source told our correspondent that Tobi later invited Adeyemi to his office to explain to him why he did not allow any counter-motion.
Tobi was said to have begged Adeyemi not to speak to the newsmen on the issue.
Oshiomhole also faulted the procedure, adding, 'When you have a motion, it is conventional for the leadership to ask if there is a counter-motion even if no one raises his hand.
'But once somebody raises his hand, you are obliged as a steward of the house to listen to the other motion and let the house decide which way to go.
'I knew that from the balance, if they had allowed the counter-motion, he (Tobi) would still have been able to have his way.
'But the failure to do that robbed the conference of the kind of legitimacy it should have."
However, the leader of Northern delegation, Alhaji Umaru Dikko, and the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Prof. Jerry Gana, in separate interviews with our correspondents, said they were satisfied with the procedure.
Dikko said, 'I am very satisfied that the conference has come to amicable, very peaceful and very dignified end.
'And that is what we want."
But the delegation from the South-South, at the news conference in the wee hours of Monday, vowed to continue with the struggle for resource control until the zone achieved its desire.
Answering questions from newsmen shortly after they announced their withdrawal from the conference, leaders of the delegations from the zone said the circumstances that led to their exit from the conference would not weaken their resolve to fight all oppressive policies that have impoverished the people of the zone.
The leader of the Bayelsa State delegation, Prof. Kimse Okoko, said the zone was now more determined to reject and fight all injustices being meted out to their people.
He added, 'Our refusal to return to the conference shows that we can longer accept unjust treatment of the South-South people.
'We are determined to continue to pursue our case for a more equitable society, that we are no longer going to sit down and accept the kind of treatment that is being meted out to the people of the South-South and any other part of this country for that matter when it is considered to be unjust and unfair."
The Chairman of the South-South Delegates Forum, Chief Edwin Clark, expressed the determination of the Niger Delta region to, in the face of provocations, continue to guard Nigeria's unity jealously.
Clark said, 'Contrary to what some conservative people are thinking about us, we are law abiding people.
'We believe in the unity of this country.
'We have always pursued our cases legally and constitutionally as we have done in this conference.
'We will continue to do so.
'No one should resort to extra-democratic procedure or method in the pursuit of this cause.
'Nothing would be done by our people to jeorpardise the unity of this country."
A former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Mathew Mbu, said it was unfortunate that the warnings of delegates from the zone that they should not be taken for granted was ignored.
The Punch Tuesday, July 12, 2005