THE meeting of the Presidential Advisory Committee on proposed national dialogue in Benin City Edo state capital Monday went awry when a member of the panel, Col Tony Nyiam openly confronted Governor Adams Oshiomhole on the latters position that he does not expect anything tangible from the planned meeting. Various states from the zone and different ethnic nationalities, including Edo Forum which among other things requested that Midwest Region and Middle Belt Region be restored and that an executive bill is presented to the National Assembly to be passed as law for the convocation of the conference had submitted their inputs on how the conference should be organized. The Ijaw National Council, Urhobo Progress Union, Benin Forum, Isoko Development Union, Bayelsa State Government, Rivers State Government and some other groups had made their presentations when chairman of the committee, Senator Femi Okunrounmu while announcing the governors imminent departure from the Imaguero College hall, venue of the meeting sought that Oshiomhole be allowed to make some remarks before he lives. Oshiomhole in his speech which he said was his personal views had said there was always an agenda for people calling for a meeting and that President Goodluck Jonathan was yet to tell Nigerians the agenda otherwise he said the committee may end up carrying-out a dialogue which recommendations may be confined to the dustbin as in the case of the political reform conference organized by former President Olusegun Obasanjo whose recommendations he said had not seen the light of the day. I will be surprised if anything changes. Sincerely, I have no business to deceive or mislead anyone. I believe that the outcome of this conference will not be different from that of other conferences we have had in the past. I do not think that more than hundred years when we have set aside billions of naira to celebrate centenary celebrating the fact of our amalgamation of the North and Southern Nigeria, and we have lived together as one country for over a hundred years, and we have gone through independence, we have been free for fifty three years and we are coming back to ask the question, how could we be there. I think Nigeria needs to address very serious issues. When I see eminent Nigerians discussing this issue, I am sure they know that Nigerias problem is not this politics of sharing which the national dialogue is all about, who is getting what, who has this natural endowment, who should do this or not do this. For me this is the act of perfecting poverty. He said he believed the committee was just being made to work for nothing. It was at this juncture that Nyiam interjected and the full packed hall became rowdy as some suspected miscreants masquerading as civil society organizations began chanting solidarity songs and refused to allow the governor continue his speech. Shouts of yes no rented the air. The confusion lasted for almost 30 minutes with the organizers trying to calm down the charged hall but to no avail until the governor departed. But former governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha condemned the turn of events as he said the governor was entitled to his opinion and should have been allowed to make his speech, irrespective of whether it would be accepted or not.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 23:42:03 +0000
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