Northern elders back Jonathan on national dialogue The Northern Elders Forum has expressed its support for the national conference proposed by President Goodluck Jonathan, stating that the country was in need of such a dialogue. The spokesman of the forum, Dr. Paul Unongo, in a telephone interview with SUNDAY PUNCH, said northern elders had decided to support Jonathan’s proposal for a national conference and would participate if they are invited. He said, “As an organisation, the Northern Elders Forum supports fully the President’s position on dialogue; whether it is the national conference, or the one that some other people are calling for, which is the sovereign national conference. “We fully support the President’s resolution that Nigerians need to talk to one another. Any forum provided for us to talk about our country, we will be part of it. We will attend if we are invited.” Unongo, who participated in previous national conferences, said his personal reservation about the proposed conference was that it could turn out to be a smokescreen. He said, “I’m just hoping and praying that this will not be just a talk shop, where people will go and waste their time. I remember my experience at the national political forum, which the then President Olusegun Obasanjo provided for Nigerians to talk. Some of us took it very seriously and we did tremendous amount of work and we made copious suggestions. Obasanjo did not implement most of the fundamental recommendations pertaining to strategising to get Nigeria in better shape. We were disappointed. “When the third term issue came, we saw that he brought about that forum for the purpose of ensuring that his third term agenda was realised. We were very annoyed and he was annoyed and he threw us away unceremoniously. Some of us said if there was any other thing like this in Nigeria, we will be sceptical about being a part of it.” He said the conference would be Jonathan’s greatest achievement as President, if convened transparently, allowing Nigerians are allowed to talk freely. Unongo disagreed with the position of the former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, who had argued that the conference would be a distraction. “I don’t share Tinubu’s opinion that Jonathan wants to divert attention from serious issues of governance facing him. I think it is a good move. Nigerians desperately need to sit across the table and talk to one another,” he said. On the issues to be discussed, Unongo, who was the Second Republic Minister for Steel Development, said everything could be discussed except disintegration of the country. “We have recreated Nigeria from what it was in the days of the Obafemi Awolowo, when he described Nigeria as a mere geographical expression. Nigeria is now a nation state bought with volumes of our blood. “If anybody thinks that we will go through a civil war; kill two million men; and mere 43 years after we will forget the slaughter and all the sufferings this country went through, that person must be joking.”
Posted on: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 10:05:37 +0000
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