Sokoto State governor, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko has described the proposed national conference as nothing but a deceit aimed at scaring other parts of the country and has rather advocated the convocation of a sovereign national conference.
“Truly speaking, if we are going to be honest with ourselves, it’s time to stop deceit, this conference is just like a deceit, if we are sincere we should call for a sovereign national conference, that is what we should go for,” Wamakko asserted.
Speaking weekend in an exclusive interview with a national daily, Gov. Wamako said, “Some people in Nigeria think they can use the conference to scare other parts of the country. Who said we can be intimidated by conferences? Let’s go for a sovereign national conference. This country is bigger than any of us.”
He agreed with the position adopted by his Edo State counterpart, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who argued that the national conference being planned by President Goodluck Jonathan would not be any different from previous conferences, whose reports were left unimplemented.
“The so-called national dialogue may not achieve much because time-wise it’s getting late. There is not enough time between now and 2015 to have a useful conference and make it have impact on the 2015 elections. More so, there are so many other conferences earlier on which were conducted and reports were submitted but were not implemented,” he said.
“Nigeria is not having any problem with any report and we had these committees over the years, we appointed experts, made some survey, studies, conferences and reports were collated but unfortunately they were not implemented so I don’t think this one is going to be any different”, he said.
According to the Governor, who is a member of the G-7 governors, Nigerian leaders do not seem to be learning from mistakes of the past as they are only about respecting their egos which he said makes the political atmosphere in the country “stormy”.
His words: “We don’t seem to have learnt from the past because leaders are busy respecting their egos and opinions; they are not respecting opinions of the people out there. If leaders are able to respect the views of the people the story will be much different. What is important is people’s views, wishes and opinions not our individual egos. This is what is making the political atmosphere very stormy”.
It would be recalled that despite his opposition to the planned national conference, Gov. Wamakko last month named a 32-member committee to represent the state at the talks.
-Daily Trust
