Numerous major political figures from the Southwest region on Thursday were conspicuously absent from a “post-national conference summit” hosted by Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State at the Royale Park Lane Hotel in Akure, the state capital.
Numerous major political figures from the Southwest region on Thursday were conspicuously absent from a “post-national conference summit” hosted by Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State at the Royale Park Lane Hotel in Akure, the state capital.The summit, with the theme “The National Conference, 2015 Elections and the Yoruba Nation”, was ostensibly aimed at raising awareness among the Yoruba about the outcome of the 2014 National conference.
The event was attended mostly by members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), including leaders of a faction of the Pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere, which recently endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan. The participants included political office holders from the southwest states of Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Ogun and Lagos states. But prominent traditional rulers and religious leaders from the region were absent at the summit.
The chairman of the summit and an Afenifere leader, Ayo Adebanjo, observed that the gathering was almost exclusively of PDP members and leaders.
Mr. Adebanjo noted that the summit, if truly convened for its stated aim, should have attracted prominent personalities and voices from the southwest. He expressed sadness that no key traditional ruler or religious leader attended the summit. He said that the event lacked significance, being mostly attended by PDP members and their allies.
“My observation here is that the summit seems to be dominated by the members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),” Mr. Adebanjo stated, remarking the presence of the party’s candidates for elective offices.
“The summit should be more important than Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) affairs. If you are convening something like this in future give the impression that we are doing it on non-partisan basis and in a fair manner cut across board,” he said.
Also speaking, the chairman of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Fredrick Faseun, said his party adopted the PDP presidential candidate, Mr. Goodluck Jonathan, because of the UPN’s belief that the incumbent president would implement the recommendations of the National Conference. He described Mr. Jonathan as the only “good” thing in Nigeria.
“I am not in President Jonathan’s party but I chose to adopt him for my own political platform because I feel he’s the only good thing available to Nigeria now,” Mr. Faseun said.
The coordinator of the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC), Gani Adams, echoed Mr. Adebanjo’s sentiment that the summit should have included Yoruba political figures from opposition parties if the event was truly meant to discuss the way forward for the southwest.
“We need a platform to sensitize Nigerians about who will implement the outcome of the National Conference,” he said, adding that the meeting should not be a gathering of the PDP.
Earlier, Governor Mimiko, the convener of the summit, said the mission of the event was to gather Yoruba leaders from the southwest to deliberate on the importance of the National Conference by endorsing President Goodluck Jonathan for the second term for the conference’s quick implementation.
“Convening the 2014 National Conference was indeed a historic assignment that we are proud of. And as a people, we must do everything possible to ensure that the confab recommendations get implemented.
“The idea of President Goodluck Jonathan allowing Nigerians to discuss is therefore a right step in the right direction. The platform afforded Nigerians the opportunity to dialogue and, through consensus, to evolve a workable agreement that is geared towards the self-expression of its socially and culturally diverse peoples within a nation-state that reflects their desires,” said the governor.
He added: “Indeed, everybody has something in the confab report that contained over 600 resolutions which 492 people passed by consensus—that is unprecedented in the history of Nigeria. Therefore, it is clearly a
different kind of report.”
Governor Mimiko said the confab recommendations, when implemented, would “create room for each state to have its own constitution, its own police force, its own prison service, can create its own local governments, can build its own airports, seaports and railways and, in addition, in the economic domain, solid minerals that had been the exclusive preserve of the Federal government since Independence, have now been brought to the concurrent list. States can now create employment and develop at their
own pace,” adding that the report would open up the political space.
According to the convener, “the challenge remains what is to be done to safeguard the confab report and ensure its implementation. Thus, this one-day summit that is designed to evaluate the 2014 National Conference has
become necessary so as to contribute to the way and manner the confab
recommendations get translated to concrete realities.
“Specifically, we want to x-ray the gains of the Yoruba nation from the 2014 National Conference and design optional frameworks for implementation of the confab recommendations with an eye on Yoruba
interests.”
In addition to the numerous Yoruba leaders in opposition parties who shunned the summit, Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti was also absent.
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