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THE Nigerian political landscape was astir, yesterday, following President Goodluck Jonathan’s nod for the much agitated national conference. In his 46-point 53rd Independence Day broadcast, the President said his administration has taken cognizance of suggestions over the years by well-meaning Nigerians on the need for a National Dialogue on the future of the country.
As an advocate of dialogue and in demonstration of his belief in the positive power of dialogue in charting the way forward, he said he had decided to set up an Advisory Committee that will establish the modalities for the conference.
The panel will also design a framework and come up with recommendations as to the form, structure and mechanism of the process within one month after which the nation will be briefed on the nomenclature, structure and modalities of the dialogue.
The committee is to be chaired by Dr. Femi Okurounmu with Dr. Akilu Indabawa as secretary. The move, which is coming after 20 years of agitation for a national conference to enable the people fashion a constitution for themselves, immediately, raised dust in the polity.
While some observers hailed the announcement, others received it with cautious optimism and some felt it was a diversionary move by President Jonathan to boost his 2015 re-election ambition.
There were also those who feared that the exercise may be another jamboree that will not crack the kernel of socio-economic, ethno-religious, political and development problems plaguing the nation. The divergent views raise the question of whether or not the latest effort will be different from past exercises.
Past conferences, their aims and shortfalls
Before Independence, Nigerian leaders were locked in series of constitutional conferences. In 1958, for instance, 106 Nigerian delegates drawn from the ethnic nationalities attended a conference in London to look at what was then the Nigerian federation. That conference yielded the 1960 Constitution that ushered Nigeria into independence.
With the departure of Southern Cameroon from Nigeria and three years into self-rule, the country fashioned another codebook — the 1963 Republican Constitution. The military intervention of 1966 had the constitution abrogated and the country was ruled by decrees.
However, the military set up a Constituent Assembly in 1977, which produced the 1979 Constitution that returned the country to civil rule. The 1979 Constitution was ratified by the Supreme Military Council, SMC, headed by the then Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo.
About four years later, the military overthrew the civilians and captured power again. They also set aside the 1979 constitution and promulgated decrees.
In 1989, the then General Ibrahim Babamasi Babangida-led military government set up a constituent assembly with the intention of returning power to civilians in 1990.
The move produced the short-lived 1993 Constitution, which went up in smoke when Babangida postponed the handover date several times even though members of the National Assembly and governors had been elected and were in office.
His annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections presumably won by late business tycoon, Chief M. K. O. Abiola, unleashed much tension and violence on the polity. He stepped aside in 1993 after appointing Chief Ernest Shonekan as interim president.
Agitation for SNC
The clamour for a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) gained currency in 1994 following the ‘June 12’ misadventure. Proponents picked holes in the unitary system of government and canvassed a restructured polity that would drive socio-economic and political development.
The General Sani Abacha regime, which snatched power from Shonekan organized a National Constitutional Conference (NCC) in 1994 made of elected and government appointed delegates.
The confab was boycotted by the progressive wing of the South-West, led by late Chief Abraham Adesanya, which insisted on the SNC.
The conference came up with far-reaching decisions like creation of the six geo-political zones and 13 per cent derivation. But it was perceived as exercise meant for Abacha to transmute into a civilian ruler. The proposed constitution was in the works until Abacha died in 1998.
When General Abdulsalami Abubakar took over in 1998, he announced a speedy transition programme that lasted 11 months. He set up a committee led by Justice Niki Tobi to sieve through the volumes of constitutional documents and come up with a grundnorm.
The process gave birth to the 1999 Constitution with which civilians reclaimed power in 1999.
However, the 1999 constitution was replete with many ambiguities and inconsistencies that threatened smooth flow of governance. Pro-democracy activists among others questioned the preamble, which said: ‘we the people…. arguing that the people of Nigeria never took part in making the constitution. They went on to insist on SNC.
Constitution amendment exercise
However, the President Olusegun Obasanjo and the National Assembly opposed calls for sovereign national conference, arguing that there could not be two sovereignties in the country. Nevertheless, Obasanjo, in his second term, organised a National Political Reforms Conference (NPRC) with all the delegates appointed.
One of the resolutions of the confab was 18 per cent derivation. However, the decisions of the conference, which the National Assembly was discussing, including its constitution amendment exercise, died with Obasanjo’s alleged Third Term agenda.
Under President Jonathan, the 1999 constitution has been amended twice and the National Assembly is on the verge of completing the third amendment yet the challenges facing the country remain intractable.
Senator Okurounmu, a former leader of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), who hails from the South-West, has been in the thick and thin of the agitation for national conference. He obviously knows how to proceed with the onerous assignment handed him. It is to be seen how far the latest move will go.
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