A lawyer and member of One Voice Civil Group, Collins Okeke, has alleged that the presidential committee set up by President Goodluck Jonathan, to advise him on setting a National Dialogue has failed to include recommendations given by the civil society.
He described the development as a challenge to the success of the conference.
He explained that when the National Conference was conceived “what we had in mind was a conference that will produce a new constitution” but what the reports suggest is leading to the alteration of the constitution.
Mr. Okeke stated that initially, the interpretation of the National Conference was that it was going to be based on ethnic nationalities, but from what the committee report is saying, the presentation is going to be individualistic and based on the federal constituencies as set up by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Speaking on Channels Television breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, Mr. Okeke said that if the President goes by the recommendations given by the committee, the conference “may not take off”.
In justifying the reason why ethnic nationality was recommended, Mr. Okeke referred to the clashes in the Northern part of the country as not ‘individual fights’ but as issues regarding “ethnic nationalities”.
He stressed that a conference based on ethnic nationalities would serve as a medium for different ethnic groups to come together and iron out their differences.
“The basis of the conference should be ethnic nationalities because Nigeria is made up of ethic nationalities,” he said, adding that the conference would achieve more if it was based on recommendation given by his group.
