Posted by By MARIAM ALESHINLOYE AGBOOLA on
Worried about the embarrassment the feud between the President and his deputy has cost the nation and its threat to national cohesion, prominent leaders of the middle belt including Chief Solomon Lar, Dr Olusola Saraki and Chief Isaac Shaahu have resolved to broker a peace meeting between the two.
Worried about the embarrassment the feud between the President and his deputy has cost the nation and its threat to national cohesion, prominent leaders of the middle belt including Chief Solomon Lar, Dr Olusola Saraki and Chief Isaac Shaahu have resolved to broker a peace meeting between the two.
At a meeting held under the umbrella of the Middle Belt Forum at the residence of Chief Lar in Abuja, the elders also agreed to contact and invite eminent Nigerians from the six geo- political zones, leaders of thought and other stakeholders to broker the peace without delay.
The meeting, which was jointly chaired by the founding father of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and first executive governor of old Plateau State, Chief Lar and Second Republic Senate Leader, Dr Saraki, noted with concern that the feud between the two leaders had ridiculed the exalted position of the president and grounded governance.
The communiqué issued at the end of the well- attended meeting and signed by Chief Lar, Dr Saraki and chairman of the forum, Chief Shaahu also noted with serious concern threat to the survival of the institution of the presidency, as a result of the odium brought on the office.
It recalled the crisis between the leader of the defunct Action Group, late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his deputy, late Chief Samuel Akintola, which started as an Action Group and Western Region crises but later led to the collapse of the first republic.
While noting that that the future of Nigeria was brighter today, with progress made in nation building, it warned that: ‘The presidency should not play into the hands of countries that are awaiting the disintegration of the country as Nigeria holds a strategic position in Africa and in the black race'.
It, therefore, resolved that all the stakeholders should rise up and collectively check the situation before it spiral, out of control with disastrous consequences for the nascent democracy.
On the recent military plane crash which resulted in the death of 13 military officers, the meeting called for proper investigation into the disaster, urging that caution be taken in future by not allowing chief executives and their deputies travel in the same aircraft in case of unforeseen disaster.
The president and his vice, governors and their deputies, National Assembly principal officers and their deputies as well as those in the public sectors, the communiqué said should also be discouraged from travelling in the same aircraft, among other precautions that should be taken against future disasters.
While expressing optimism that the 2007 general election would be peaceful and successful, it appealed to all politicians to imbibe decorum in their struggle for power and avoid anything that would further overheat the polity.
It called on agencies involved in the election exercise to discharge their duties with absolute sense of responsibility, respect for the rule of law, equity, fairness and justice.