My guy Bayo Adeyinka still keeps it real with his minute by minute comical coverage of the National Confab. I paste it here by popular demand. DAY 6 OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE (Speeches, Speeches, Speeches) By Bayo Adeyinka With the adoption of the 70% voting procedure yesterday based on the consensus reached by the 49 wise men, the tone was set for the review and comments on the President’s speech to the delegates during the inauguration. If there is anything Nigerians know how to do, it is to pontificate endlessly. A Nigerian would rather speak about a situation than work on it. It was Demosthenes who said that all speech is vain and empty unless it is accompanied with action. Most of the delegates have spent almost the whole of their lives giving speeches and the floodgates continued today. If there is one thing that is guaranteed to shape, re-define and save our union, certainly it is not speeches. Setting the tone for the day was Chief Richard Akinjide, widely reported as sleeping last week. With his picture generously splashed across all newspapers, could he have risked being caught taking a nap again? From the uninspiring to the mundane, from the repetitive to the bland, from the sedative to the plain boring, the delegates rose one after the other to utilize their three minutes. Some of them spoke for the very first time and one can only hope it will not be the last. Dora Akunyili, Ahmadu Ali, Jibril Aminu, Josephine Anenih, Iyabo Anisulowo, Prof Anya Anya, Comrade Issa Aremu, Victor Attah, Sehinde Arogbofa, Tokunbo Awolowo, Fidelis Ayogu, Iyorcha Ayu and many others were among the speakers. There were two major threads that ran through the speeches today: most of the speakers praised the President while some like Diepreye Alamieyeseigha eulogized him and almost all the speakers agreed on the need to make some changes to the current structure. As an aside, Alamieyeseigha spoke on how some other African leaders have mentioned to him how they prefer to be Nigerians in spite of the challenges facing the country. Did he prod them on the reason for their preference? Did it have anything to do with getting a presidential amnesty after conviction for corruption? As an aside, when Alamieyeseigha was done with his speech, one of the delegates said, “Thank you madam.” Ouch! Most of the speakers recanted what we all know about the problems bedeviling the polity but it remains to be seen if they can sit down to agree on the right solutions. Hopefully, all the drama of the last 2 weeks is behind us and one can only pray that the Conference will quickly deliberate on the President’s speech and move on to other business. The speech making continues tomorrow.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 12:21:42 +0000
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