Africa News Service Vanguard Conference: National Conference is Inevitable. Article from: Africa News Service | November 11, 2003 | Copyright Nov 03, 2003 (Vanguard/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) Prologue The search for a solution to the national problem, has been on for quite sometime. Even before independence, people had been discussing a number of things. Awolowo called Nigeria a geographic expression at a time; the late Zik advocated the unitary system at a time. Achebe wrote his book: The trouble with Nigeria. So, we have had people articulating the problem and trying to find solution to the problem at one time or the other. Some were misdirected, some were on a straight course, but yet the problem remains. Which means we cannot be tired of tackling that problem. From 1990 especially, there has been a very vociferous demand for a Sovereign National Conference. At some time, it is a National Conference, at sometime, it is a Constitutional Conference, and the nomenclature keeps changing but the demand remains, none the less. So Vanguard Newspapers as the vanguard of the people has decided again to make a very serious contribution to this search for a solution to the problem of the nation. And that is why we have eminent people invited for todays conference. I want to start by trying to quote Professor Ben Nwabueze on this issue. In 2001, we had a Conference of Leaders of Thought and Traditional Rulers in Abuja. I was there, and there was a debate as to whether actually we needed a National Conference and he said that one, when you talk of mandate, when you talk of sovereignty, to whom does it belong? That the government of the day had thought about sovereignty belonging to the government, having been handed over to them. And he said it is not true, because constitutional power belonged to the people at all times. Whether they had elected or had not elected somebody, sovereignty belonged to the people. And that when you open the preamble to the 1999 Constitution and you see, We the people ... there, that it is fraudulently obtained. So, there is need for the people to speak, for the people to decide what needs to be done. And he quoted Professor Eric Cowen of the United States, where he spoke about the U.S. Constitution and I quote: The U.S. Constitution obtains its entire force and efficacy from the fact that it was established by the people to be governed. That is what Prof. Cowen said. That the people of Nigeria, with regard to how the government came into power in 1999, with regard to the problems, we have been having over the years, there is a need for the people, actually to empower those who will rule them. Then he said, the country now required fundamental and radical changes which put them beyond the power of government to amend without recourse to the people via a national conference. In other words, that the problem are too fundamental to be perfunctorily treated. That it is not just a question of a section of the people taking a decision for the people, but the people themselves being involved because of the fundamental nature of what is required to turn that Constitution into the peoples Constitution. And he said there is also this clamour for resource control, such that could pull the nation apart, that could destroy the basis for this country. And said actually because of the fundamental nature of their demand for resource control, it cannot be left to a National Assembly that was assembled in a way that is not really pro-people; therefore the people must intervene. Then he said, talking about faith, religion, that the adoption of Sharia in the North, violated the religious neutrality of the States. Of course there are viewpoints along this, for and against and that there is a need for the people of this country to return a verdict on that. And the issue of the rotation of the Presidency, because everybody wants to be part of it all, and he said the strongman of the regime then, Chief Tony Anenih, had suggested that it could not be the turn of the Igbo until 2015 and he said, who was taking the decision? How do you rotate? Is rotation necessary? The people again must intervene. And that he also talked about restructuring Nigeria, and that is a very big question. Do you restructure by collapsing the states into zones, six zones? Do you rather give in to the demand for more States? Do you scrap it altogether? Is it Local Government that should be eliminated and the States become like Local Governments and that these are very fundamental questions that the people must be involved in discussing. And finally he said, if all else failed, some people had suggested a confederal arrangement. We remember the late Chief Bisi Onabanjo, for example, led a debate on that, even in the 80s. So these are some of the things that he said again are very fundamental issues and all that. So, they are revisiting the issue of the National Conference. Is it necessary? Where do we start,? How do we move? And that is what we are putting our head together to give to the people of this country. On that note, I want to welcome everybody to this discussion. We are in for serious business. So, to start with, we are talking of National Conference as a solution, if there is solution then that means there is a question: A national question, what does it mean? What is a national question? First in any country where there are divergence of language and of nationality, particularly of language, a unitary constitution is always a source of bitterness and hostility on the part of linguistic or national minority groups. On the other hand, as soon as a federal constitution is introduced in which each linguistic or national group is recognised and accorded regional autonomy, any bitterness and hostility against the constitutional arrangements as such, disappear. If the linguistic or national group concerned are backward, or too weak vis-a-vis the majority group or groups, their bitterness or hostility may be dormant or suppressed. But as soon as they become enlightened and politically conscious, and/or courageous leadership emerges amongst them, the bitterness and hostility come into the open, and remain sustained with all possible venom and rancour, until home rule is achieved. Secondly, a federal constitution is usually a more or less dead letter in any country which lacks any of the factors conducive to federalism. From the facts and analysts thereof, which we have given and made in this section, the following four principles or laws can be deduced. One: If a country is unilingual and uni-national, the constitution must be unitary. Two: If a country is unilingual or bilingual or multi-lingual, and also consists of communities which, over a period of years, have developed divergent nationalities, the constitution must be federal, and the constituent states must be organised on the dual basis or language and nationality. Three: If a country is bilingual and multi-lingual, the constitution must be federal, and the constituent states must be organised on a linguistic basis. Four: Any experiment with a unitary constitution in a bilingual or multi-lingual or multi-national country must fail in the long run. We are now in a position to asseverate, categorically and with all the emphasis at our command, that since Nigeria is a multi-lingual and multi-national country par excellence, the only constitution that is suitable for its peculiar circumstances is a federal constitution. Moderator: I want to start with Mrs. Onajide. Shes been a journalist, shes been on for sometime, she is the oldest member of the group. So, let me start with her. Onajide: Actually, I was a special assistant at the Draft Constitution of 1976 and some of the points you raised now, especially the Sharia came up. The Constitution we got eventually which was approved for this 1977 was not exactly what was agreed in the Constitutional Conference. What was in the Draft Constitution was different from what was agreed eventually. Now, the points when you talk about national question, what is the national question? What exactly is the national question? Are we going to start from the famous merger in 1914 or are we going to start from after independence, the parliamentary system. The Draft Constitution was meant to put us on the same line as America, because we are a number of many many peoples come together. And until we stop believing that it was the merger in 1914 by Lord Lugard that brought us together, because there were people who were long ago together, just that they needed a constitution for them to operate. Why did we abandon the ministerial system? The parliamentary system? Why? Our antecedents do not necessarily call for a Presidential system and it was quite clear from Day One that there were two points of view. Are we going to have a unitary government, or are we going to have a regionalized government? The NCNC wanted a unitary government in Nigeria and the Action Group wanted a regional system. They came out of the Constitutional Conference in 1957 with a compromise - three regions. But it is the business of Nigeria, not only of three leaders to say what they want. And we have not up till now had any such referendum. If you call the elections of 1959 or 1960 - the referendum, fine, which said they preferred a government run in the way that the NCNC did and there was an alliance between the NCNC and the NPC. Then there was UPGA. According to Chief Akintola, who was in UPGA, which also was one side with the other. But what made it necessary for people to tribalize positions, why do people tribalize positions? Moderator: We will discuss all that as we move on. I just wanted us to establish the basis of our discussion, that was why I threw the question on the national question. I will take one more contribution on the national question before we move on. Barrister Goddy Uwazurike, what is your own understanding of the national question? Uwazurike: What I understand as national question is why are we a nation? What is our direction? What is the basis of our existence and where do we go from here? What are those basic parameters we must observe, in order to be called a nation. In law, we often ask: what is a grundnorm? In other words, which is the basic law from which every authority as the nation stands? And if you remember during the military era, the military kept insisting that the person of the head of state was actually the grundnorm, was the basis of all authority. We often say it is that document known as theConstitution that is the basic parameter on which we have a nation and that for us to ask for a national question we have to ask those questions which are embodied on the basic rights of every person in this country, the fundamental rights column. The sort of individuals who actually make up the county, because the Constitution does not really recognise tribes. Everybody who is called a Nigerian, you are a Nigerian because either of your grandparents or your parents were from tribes indigenous to Africa. So, if you are an Arab and you are in Kano, you can be a Nigerian, indigenous to Africa. So, that point being that who are Nigerians? Where are we going, what do we want and how far can we go? The moment we recognise those questions and are willing to answer those questions, then we say we have a conference on. Moderator: Thank you very much. We will move a little bit faster now. Barrister Aturu had been a student activist and now a political activist and is involved in this quest for a national conference for quite sometime. I want to direct the question to him. Do we really need a national conference and at this point in time? We now have a government in place, people say we elected them freely, and we have handed over to them. Do we need a National Conference? Aturu: Well, I think that we do need some National Conference where people can come together and articulate what they consider to be the problems of this country, and the solutions to these problems. The call for a National Conference has become more valid now for the fact that you had an election which had been hotly contested and thereby reshaping as it were the legitimacy of the government in power as you also have a government that has continued to show by the day that it has no respect for core-democratic values of consensus, dialogue and other forms of trying to put people together and work together in a way that everybody will agree to what the government is doing. … Log in to your account to read this article – and millions more. 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