As the journey to review the 1999 constitution begins afresh, a former secretary general of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Anthony Sani has asked the National Assembly to use the report of the 2014 National Conference (CONFAB) as a resource material.
Sani, who was the spokesman for northern delegates to the conference organised by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, spoke against the backdrop of the arguments for and against a holistic adoption of the recommendations of the historic conference.
He said the suggestion that the National Assembly, which has set an adhoc committee to review the constitution was based on the lack of consensus on the solution to the problems facing the country.
According to Sani: “When some respected people now call on the government to implement the reports of conference of 2014, I wonder if such people feign ignorance of the fact that we are practicing multi-party democracy.
“The 2014 conference comprised unelected delegates whose decisions cannot be binding. More so that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) did not participate in the conference.
“The only way the conference can be useful is for the NASS to use its reports as resource materials in the course of their efforts to amend the current constitution.
“In the alternative, any political party which fancies some aspects of the reports is at liberty to include them in its manifesto and canvass for electoral mandate needed for implementation. That is how multi-party democracy works.
“I say this because while there is national consensus on nature of problems confronting the nation, there is no corresponding national consensus on methods of solution, hence the significance of multi-party democracy where each political party represents distinct method of solving national concerns.
“The party’s method is used for canvassing electoral mandate needed for execution. It is not for few select elite to foist their preference on the rest of the country.”
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