Adamawa People Are Ready To Join Cameroun..Adamawa Monarch Tells Natl Confab

IN what stunned many conferees, the Lamido of Adamawa, Dr. Muhammadu Barkindo Mustapha, one of the delegates representing the National Council of Traditional Rulers at the National Conference in Abuja, Wednesday threatened to lead his people to join the Republic of Cameroun in the event of any disintegration in Nigeria. 

  Meanwhile, the meeting between the leadership of the National Conference and the 50 delegates selected to consult and arrive at a consensus on the controversial voting pattern to be adopted by the conferees ended in a deadlock yesterday, forcing an adjournment of the conference till Monday next week. 

  In a related development, barely a week after Jama’atul-Nasril Islam criticised the selection of delegates to the ongoing National Conference in Abuja, the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), an umbrella body of Islamic organisations in the country, yesterday followed suit and met with President Goodluck Jonathan behind closed-doors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

  Chairman of the conference, Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi (rtd), had yielded the microphone to gauge members’ contribution to a proposal on the need for members of the public to submit their opinion to the conference via memoranda. But rather than addressing the issue, Mustapha Adamawa strayed away from the subject. 

  The traditional ruler specifically faulted the contributions and utterances of some delegates whom he described as ‘loyalists to President Goodluck Jonathan’ and the conduct of the conference proceedings which, according to him, had deviated from its mandate as clearly defined by the President during the inauguration. 

  “The conference is contradicting what the President said. And the way we are going in the long run, if we are not careful, this conference will flop and the resultant effect can only be imagined. 

  “If the country disintegrates, many of those loyalists will have nowhere to run to. But if that happens, I and my people (kingdom) which transcends beyond Adamawa will join our kinsmen in the Republic of Cameroun. A part of my kingdom is called Adamawa State in Cameroun and if I run there, I will easily assimilate”, he said. 

  While alluding to the debate on the controversial issue of adoption of a voting pattern which nearly marred the session on Tuesday, the traditional ruler whose submission was greeted with protests from aggrieved members also threatened to lead other delegates from Adamawa State to stage a walk out of the conference hall if the group was pushed to the wall.

  “I have been sitting here for three days and I have made several attempts to speak but without success. We should not borrow from the so-called civilised countries. Those countries use anything, including coercion, to force the achievement of their interests. If we are pushed to the wall, we will easily walk out of here; jingoism is not the exclusive preserve of anybody,” he added. 

  The quick intervention of Justice Kutigi prevented yesterday’s session from degenerating as other conferees began to boo the traditional ruler amidst shouts of protests.