PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan on Friday met with the
leadership of Afenifere at the Presidential Villa, assuring that he would leave
Nigerians to determine the outcome of the proposed National Conference.
According to the Special Adviser to
the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, who briefed State House
correspondents after the meeting, Jonathan told members of the Yoruba
socio-cultural group during the closed door meeting that he would not interfere
with the process of the conference.
Afenifere was led to the Villa by
Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko.
In its presentation read by Chief
Reuben Fasoranti, Afenifere told Jonathan that the proposed national conference
was the soul of Nigeria and was more important than the 2015 election.
It also observed that the sage, Chief
Obafemi Awolowo’s prediction came true on the election of a minority to the
post of the president of the country.
Afenifere noted: “The visit is quite
historic for us as our immortal leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s prophesy was
fulfilled in our very eyes: The sage in the course of his electioneering
campaign in Bonny, the old Rivers State in 1983, made a clairvoyant
declaration; ‘an Ijaw man will be president before long.’
“The prophecy flowed from Awo’s long
time commitment to the cause of the minorities in Nigeria. Without mincing
words, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Afenifere that he led more than any one or
group did more to put the.minority question on the front burner of political
activities in Nigeria.
“Till date, we his disciples still
stand by the principled position that minorities must never be relegated to the
background and their participation in governance, including the highest office
in the land, should be of right and not patronage.”
On the state of the nation, Afenifere
noted that the state of emergency declared in three states in the North,
followed by military action against the Boko Haram sect, was a bold move which
has reduced the spate of bombings in the country.
It reminded Jonathan that the
sporadic attacks “says clearly that it is not over yet. We therefore urge the
president not to rest on his oars until normalcy fully returns to the country.
“However, we do not want you to see
the insurgency we are currently battling as an isolated event. It must be seen
within the web of orchestrated challenges of a country that has been unable to
achieve nationhood because of its foundation.
“The errors we have failed to rectify
have now become a terror unto us. At every turn, they stare us in the face that
this country cannot work as presently structured, but unfortunately, we
continue to pretend about it,” it said.
Afenifere stessed the need for the
national conference to hold, saying: “This is the reason we have insisted all
these years that Nigeria must be restructured at a national conference so we
can enunciate sound federal principles that would allow us to live together in
the same country on the basis of mutual respect and freedom for all the
component units to exist in their cultural habitats without injuring one
another.
“Mr. President, Nigeria will be 100
years next year. Its future as a united entity is threatened if we fail to have
a national conference. We must have one in order to secure this country and
make it fulfill its manifest destiny.
“Examples abound around the world of
countries like USSR and Yugoslavia that have disintegrated in recent years
because they failed to address vexed issues in their union. No genuine patriot
would wish that Nigeria ever go down such way.
“That is why we commend your
initiative on a national dialogue to bring together the peoples of
Nigeria to discuss their union. This is a bold move that will earn you a
good place in history if faithfully implemented. Any leader who is able to get
us out of this structural quagmire will never be forgotten.
“Mr. President, some forces that have
benefited from the imbalance and inequity of decades would not fold their arms
and watch Nigeria restructured into an entity that works for all its component
units. This is why all manners of ‘letters’ were posted to you with
‘impeachment’ calls. Expect more of that as the process moves on by those who
want the national dialogue aborted.
“Sir, Afenifere considers the
national conference as the soul of a new Nigeria and as such, much more
important than anything in the polity, 2015 election inclusive. That is why we
are strongly advising that the conference be concluded early so that the 2015
elections can be conducted on the basis of the new constitution.
“Finally, we urge you to be more
vigilant and rest assured of Afenifere’s support in the days ahead for as long
as you are committed to give Nigeria a proper national conference which you
re-emphasised when you received the report of the advisory committee two days
ago.
“We believe the time has come for us
to sit and find lasting solutions from the stakeholders across Nigeria to our
challenges as against temporary reliefs that bring greater and long-lasting
sorrows which some letter writers and their group have given us since 1966,” it
said.
Afenifere commended the president for
personally showing up at the flag-off of the Lagos-Ibadan express-way and urged
government to fix other major South-West roads.
The group appealed to Jonathan to
look into the problems afflicting privatised Federal Government companies in
the South West including Machine Tools and Steel Rolling Mills in Osogbo,
with a view to making them operational.
Among the Afenifere chieftains
present at the meeting were Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, Senator Iyiola Omisore, Chief
Supo Sonibare, Mr Yinka Odumakin and others.
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