APC VOWS TO REJECT CONFAB OUTCOME!

The All Progressives Congress has vowed to reject the outcome of the National Conference likely to be submitted to the National Assembly by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The APC did not send any representative to the National Conference, which it described as a jamboree.

APC members in the National Assembly, who spoke with Saturday PUNCH in Abuja, vehemently spoke against the Confab while insisting that the expected report meant nothing to them.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Science and Technology, Senator Robert Boroffice, (APC, 

Ondo North), in an interview with Saturday PUNCH, said whether any northern group called for the rejection of the conference report or not, his party had taken a decision to oppose its outcome.

He said, “Our position as the APC caucus in the Senate is not different from that of our party. The 

President just handpicked his canvassers and organised a jamboree national conference for them. The whole exercise is a waste of money.

“There are past reports that can be put together which had addressed all the issues affecting the country. We don’t need a conference to tackle corruption, insurgency and poverty, among others.

“Personally, some of the recommendations of the conference are capable of dividing this country; there are obvious cleavages in their recommendations that are pointing to that fact, especially the issue of resource control.”

The Senate Minority Leader, Senator George Akume, (APC, Benue North West), said his party was opposed to the National Conference because it was considered a jamboree.

He particularly faulted the recommendation of the conference, which seeks to make legislative duties part-time.

Akume stated, “I do not believe their recommendation on the issue of part-time legislature because it is the answer to executive impunity.”

The Senate Minority Leader described legislature as a full-time job.

According to him, the recommendation for part-time legislature in Nigeria will not see the light of the day.

He said, “Such a misplaced recommendation is unacceptable to majority of Nigerians and in particular, serving legislators in the country.”

But the APC members in the House of Representatives differed from their colleagues in the Senate.

The APC Caucus at the House took a slightly different position from the APC members in the Senate.

The House caucus said it would treat the conference report from the “point of national interest.”

The leader of the caucus, who is also the Minority Leader of the House, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, told Saturday PUNCH that rather than reject the report outright, members would look at the issues and vote on the side of Nigerians.

Gbajabiamila also advised against pre-empting the “final report” of the conference.

He said, “I am not aware that any group is mounting pressure on members to take the report in a particular way.

“Let us not pre-empt the conference; when they send the report to the National Assembly, I believe the proper thing to do is to follow the wishes of Nigerians.”

The APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said it was best to wait and see what happens when the report gets to the National Assembly.

Asked whether the party would encourage its lawmakers to shoot down the report, he simply said “Let us wait and see.”

However, an informed party source who pleaded for anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the issue, said “Why are we bothering ourselves over this matter? The National Conference was in total disarray. What was the consensus among them? You tell me.

“The issue has gone beyond political party affiliation; it’s now the north versus the south. What played out at that conference is that the South has its agenda, and the North has its agenda that was why they could not agree on resource control, state creation and several other issues. These issues will play out.”

The National Conference, which went on recess on July 14, will reconvene on August 4 for final consideration of its resolutions.

Before it rose on July 14, the conference adopted 19 out of its 20 committees’ reports. It could not, however, agree on the issues of derivation and revenue sharing.

The members adopted recommendations on rotational presidency and state police among other issues.

However, the PDP lawmakers, who spoke with Saturday PUNCH, said that they would not reject the report.

Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, (PDP, Cross River Central), said the report would not come directly from the National Conference delegates, but from the President.

He said that the call for the rejection of the report does not arise because it is a document that only the President would determine what to do with it.

Ndoma-Egba stated, “The National Conference is a body set up by the President, so its report will go to the President and he will do with the report as he pleases.”

On his own part, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang, (PDP, Akwa Ibom North East), said the conference report would be submitted to the President.

He, however, said the Senate could not reject any communication from the President in case he decided to forward it to the National Assembly.

He said, “We are not opposed to the President setting up a National Conference. As a matter of fact, the Senate approved the budget for the activities of the conference. We cannot talk now on their report until the President requests that the National Assembly should take action on some of their recommendations.”

Faulting the call for the rejection of the report, the Vice-Chairman, Senate Committee on National Planning, Economic Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Senator Olufemi Lanlehin, said there was no basis for the call.

Lanlehin, (Accord Party member representing Oyo South), said the report would be exhaustively considered after its submission.

He said, “Whenever the report is submitted by the President either as a private bill or executive bill, Senate will consider it holistically.

“We will consider all the resolutions and recommendations; look at them thoroughly and carry out all necessary legislative actions on it as may be requested by the President.

“There is no way we will throw away the report if it is presented to us procedurally. It will undergo normal legislative actions.

The PDP members of the House of Representatives hold the view that they would be guided by merit in treating the report.

House Deputy Majority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, said, “The report will be taken as a new proposal from the President whenever it comes and treated on merit.

“The report will be looked at holistically and objectively.

“There is no law that says we must accept everything hook, line and sinker.”

Ogor, a South-South lawmaker from Delta State, noted that some of the issues discussed at the c

onference required constitutional amendment for their implementations.

He explained that lawmakers would normally look at the report item-by-item and treat them based on their merit.

To a PDP member from North-East, Ibrahim El-Sudi, the response of lawmakers would be determined by how the report would be presented to them.

El-Sudi, a former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Taraba State, said if the report came as an executive bill, it would certainly undergo the process of passing a bill in the legislature.

He said, “If it comes as a mere document to be endorsed by the National Assembly for implementation, that is where there will be problems.

“If it comes as a bill, it means it will be dissected by members and passed on merit.”

But El-Sudi also told Saturday PUNCH that since “over 80 per cent” of the recommendations of the conference were matters already decided by the House, it was not likely that members would reverse themselves.

He recalled that the National Assembly had earlier opposed the conference on the grounds that it was an attempt to usurp the powers of the legislature.

El-Sudi added, “The House and the Senate are already amending the constitution (1999). He said, “Over 80 per cent of what the conference deliberated upon have been passed by the House.

“We are waiting for harmonisation with the Senate so that we can forward it to the state Houses of Assembly.

“So, what are those new issues in the conference recommendations that we have not done as a constitutionally recognised law-making body?”

Saturday PUNCH recalls that the House earlier rejected some of the controversial recommendations of the conference when passing the constitutional amendment bill in February.

The House rejected rotational presidency, state police and state creation. It also retained the local government system in the constitution by granting full financial autonomy to the councils.

One senior member from the South-East, who did not want to be quoted, told Saturday PUNCH that nothing was “sacrosanct, either in what the House already passed or the constitution as we have it now.

“They are all subject to amendments.”

However, the member noted that lawmakers from the zone would not vote differently on any issue from the position of their delegates to the conference, “should the need arise.”

In view of the disagreement between PDP and APC over the report of the Confab, indications had emerged that the debate on the report by the lawmakers would be stormy when the document is submitted to them.

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Deji Sadiq, a.k.a DEJI OF LAGOS is a LASU trained Economist turned freelance journalist, a Blogger, an information strategist, a public affairs analyst and a committed activist with a passion for equal opportunities.