Col Nyiam's Disgraceful Outburst Throws National Conference Credibility Into Jeopardy

Following his outburst against Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State a member of the  the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Conference/Dialogue, Col Tony Nyiam (rtd),  was yesterday forced to resign by the Senator Femi-Okurounmu-led committee.

It was gathered that members of the panel were embarrassed by Nyiam’s perceived partisanship and had to apologise to Oshiomhole.

However, in a telephone chat last night, Nyiam refused to confirm whether or not he had quit the job. Asked if he had resigned, Col Nyiam, in a combatant tone asked for  the source of the report that he had resigned.

 “Who told you that I have resigned? Ask the person who told you to tell you his authority or how he learnt that I have resigned. Thank you!” he said and hung up.

Another member of the committee firther clarified that the committee had to force him to step down in order to redeem the panel’s image.

“ The governor, Oshiomhole was our host. It was unbecoming of a member of a commiitee that was set up to listen to Nigerians to now want to stop Nigerians from talking, no matter what they had to say. We faulted him, he didn’t like it; we told him he embarrassed the committee; he admitted his outburst was wrong and we demanded his resignation.

Authoritative sources said Okurounmu led other members of the panel to apologise to the governor and showed him a copy of Nyiam’s alleged resignation letter.

Oshiomhole reportedly accepted the apology.

This  came as suspected thugs disrupted the proceedings of the Committee on national conference in Benin City,  when they stopped Governor Oshiomhole and others from making contributions to the ongoing talks.

The disruption came after a member of PAC, Col. Tony Nyiam (rtd) had shouted down the Governor while making his contribution.

The thugs believed to have been imported from neighbouring states heckled the Governor as soon as they realised that his contributions would be different from the expected opinions.