CONFAB: I LED THE AKWA IBOM DELEGATION AND CHAIRED ALL THE SOUTH SOUTH SESSIONS, WE UNITED SOUTHERN NIGERIA CONFAB: I LED THE AKWA IBOM DELEGATION AND CHAIRED ALL THE SOUTH SOUTH SESSIONS, WE UNITED THE WHOLE OF SOUTHERN NIGERIA Air Commodore OTUEKONG IDONGESIT NKANGA (RTD) Former Military Gov Akwa Ibom State (OFR) I led the Akwa Ibom delegation to the CONFAB. There were 14 of us from the State but only 13 were very consistent. I am glad I had the cooperation of people like the former Governor Obong Victor Attah, people like Ndueso Essien the former Minister, the wife of former deputy governor Atim Okpoyo , Ray Ekpu, Professor Udo Mbana. I owe them my gratitude because they cooperated with me. Seriously Akwa Ibom State must take the Lion share of that victory at the CONFAB because this was the first time Southern Nigeria was coming together politically and Akwa Ibom State was the instrument and the catalyst that forged the Southern unity. Let me explain how that happened. The first time we had such a coming together of Southern Nigeria was when we had the Southern Peoples Assembly here in Uyo and I was very instrumental to that and I thank God. I spoke to the Governor about the unity meeting and he agreed that we should have a Southern Assembly here in Uyo, we hosted it. It is from that relationship between South East, South South & the South West that fortified our unity even before the CONFAB started and luckily one of us Senator Femi Okoromo was the chairman of the pre-conference committee. He went around Nigeria and came back and briefed us how Nigerians were feeling. Therefore we were very prepared when we went as Southern Nigeria to the CONFAB and the engine room was the South South Peoples Assembly where I am the current chairman from Akwa Ibom State. I also led the Akwa Ibom delegation to the CONFAB. There were 14 of us from the State but only 13 were very consistent. I am glad I had the cooperation of people like the former Governor Obong Victor Attah, people like Ndueso Essien former Minister, the wife of former deputy governor Atim Okpoyo , Ray Ekpu, Professor Udo Mbana. I owe them my gratitude because they cooperated with me. We had our own secretariat manned by experienced bureaucrats given to us by the Governor of the State and funded by the Governor of the State, that was where we did all our research. It is not all about what you saw at the plenary, it was what was happening behind the plenary that made all the difference. I chaired all the meetings of the Akwa Ibom State delegation and I chaired all the meetings of the South South delegation, Chief Edwin Clark was the leader while I was the chairman. I chaired all the meetings and I was a co- chairman of all the Southern Nigeria meetings. With regards specifically to Akwa Ibom there were only 2 issues that concerned us and we agreed we were not going to compromise. Let me go into detail. ONSHORE OFFSHORE DICHOTOMY & DERIVATION: People might not believe this but I even went as far as getting the late Christie Essien to kneel down before Babangida over the offshore onshore dichotomy...right from the start we put our foot down at the CONFAB and said were not going to discuss the onshore offshore dichotomy. I was determined and I made sure it was not going to see the light of day. When they saw how resolute and determined we were they backed down. 1) The First was the issue of the Onshore Offshore dichotomy. Arewa Consultative Forum had already given us a signal that they were going to bring it back. I remember how I fought tirelessly when I was the Governor of Akwa Ibom State with regards to the onshore offshore dichotomy. When Babangida came to Akwa Ibom State I followed him to make a case for the State. People might not believe this but I even went as far as getting the late Christie Essien to kneel down before Babangida over the offshore onshore dichotomy. We went through all that antic to have it expunged. Thank God we finally succeeded, because I knew the effect the onshore offshore would have on the State, because if it had been allowed Akwa Ibom State and Ondo State would have suffered terribly because most of our oil is offshore. When I was Governor of the state most of my support came from the people of the North and the South West, my greatest opposition came from Rivers and Bendel State of those days. So I knew the effect of the offshore onshore dichotomy, so right from the beginning of the CONFAB, we went out and we killed it right from the the start, we put our foot down at the CONFAB and said were not going to discuss the onshore offshore dichotomy. I was determined and I made sure it was not going to see the light of day. When they saw how resolute and determined we were they backed down. Derivation was the next line of battle , the committee was going to see whether it should be 18%, 50% or higher. But when we looked as it critically we said if we were practising true Federalism the matter of derivation should not be an issue at the CONFAB because we wouldnt start sharing percentages at that point. The present constitution says not less than 13% , which means the President does not need a constitutional amendment to increase it. Unfortunately on derivation we couldnt muster enough strength and support, it was a very sensitive and contentious issue. We therefore went into consensus committees. But that is all history now but thank God eventually we agreed to send it to the President and it is now Mr President who will put together a committee that will determine it. But the plenary agreed that derivation should be increased. STATE CREATION: Itai State that was demanded had been in many conferences earlier and had been rejected and there was no new demand from Akwa Ibom State...But I think what is important here is that whosoever has been looking for a State will continue looking for a State. Akwa Ibom State should start the assimilation of the people of Ibeno and Eastern Obolo so that they will feel they are part of Akwa Ibom State so that even if there is a referendum and they are asked where do they want to go, they will say we want to remain in Akwa Ibom State. 2) The second issue that concerned the Akwa Ibom delegation was State creation. State creation was not part of our agenda but there were other constituencies in Nigeria that valued it and needed our support so we went ahead and supported them. This was how it worked out; South South was to produce 3 states. We now said Akwa Ibom Cross River States should produce one State, Edo Delta should produce a State and Bayelsa and Rivers should produce another State. Now, because of the consistent demand for Ogoja State, it was very easy for the committee to see that Ogoja State should be allowed, that covered Akwa Ibom and Cross River and in any case there was no demand from Akwa Ibom State for a State. Itai State that was demanded had been in many conferences earlier and had been rejected and there was no new demand from Akwa Ibom State. From Delta and Edo came Onioma State which had been a long standing demand. From Bayelsa and Rivers came Torebe State. But of course the Ijaw people wanted their own State, it didnt look practicable. So Oil River State was agreed but it was agreed that it will only be out of Rivers and Bayelsa State, no part of Akwa Ibom was to be a part of that State and we have papers to support that position. The original letter supporting that was signed by Chief Edwin Clark, myself, Peter Odili the former Governor of Rivers State and EAK Osfol. It went into the plenary and some people started the rumour that they have put Akwaa Ibom in Oil River State. We came back to reenforce our stand and put the position of the South South zone, myself as the leader of the Akwa Ibom State delegation with Chief Edwin Clark Clark as the leader of the South South zone. We put it clearly in the letter and expunged every part of Akwa Ibom State territory from Oil Rivers State and that was very clearly accepted by the conference management. I personally submitted that letter. There was a paper that supported the constituent units of the Oil River State and all the LGA s of Oil River State were all from Rivers State, there was nothing from Akwa Ibom State. There is a map supporting this , all the supporting documents are there. So whenever Oil rivers will be created, if it will be created, it will have no part of Akwa ibom State territory in it. But I think what is important here is that whosoever has been looking for a State will continue looking for a State. Akwa Ibom State should start the assimilation of the people of Ibeno and Eastern Obolo so that they will feel they are part of Akwa Ibom State so that even if there is a referendum and they are asked where do they want to go, they will say we want to remain in Akwa Ibom State. This is very important because we cannot just put it on paper and end it there, the people of Eastern Obolo and Ibeno might want to look for their own Oil River State in their own way. We must ensure that the people of Ibeno and Eastern Obolo have a sense of belonging in Akwa Ibom State. So that if they ask them where do you want to go they will say they want to remain in Akwa Ibom State. Note that, State creation is for administrative convenience, if someone says they want to go somewhere else , you cannot stop them, we really need to look at the Eastern Obolo and Ibeno people. Thats a summary of how we performed and I believe I did my best to protect and defend the interest of Akwa Ibom State and the South South geopolitical zone. ataikiddeh for ibom republic Posted just now by [email protected]
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 13:44:40 +0000
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