A member of the Presidential Committee on National Conference, Tony Uranta has refuted claims of a minority report, noting that every member of the committee was present when the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Femi Okorounmu presented the committee’s report to the president.
He noted that “our chairman, Sen. Femi Okurounmu emphatically ensured that there is no minority report” adding that the committee members noticed that “he (chairman) paused for a minute and gave room for any member to get up and say no I have a minority report” but “nobody did”.
He said that the committee made a “very comprehensive presentation of 16 Volumes, and more than 4, 000 pages in our report” after going round the six geo-political zones of the country and discussing amongst the committee members.
He said that it would be improper for any of the committee members to “reveal what we recommended until the Presidency so decides” adding that “it is public knowledge that the President has announced that it (the conference) is going to begin early next year (2014)”.
He further revealed that the President has “instructed the minister for the economy and finance to make available, funds for the conference to be facilitated by”.
On the commencement and end date of the conference, he said “we too have heard rumours that the conference may begin in February next year” but he could not give a specific end date because of “a range of options” that the committee recommended to the President.
He however noted that going by the popular demands of the people of Nigeria, it requires a range of three to six months for the whole process to be accomplished.
He further noted that the committee employed the services of experts from different fields to complement the ones they had on the team, to make a wide range of options on the recommendations made by the committee to the President.
