Four Zones Out Of Six Want National Conference — Uranta
Four Zones out of six in Nigeria have declared their support for a National conference, the Presidential Advisory Committee on proposed National Dialogue has said.
A member of the committee, Mr Tony Uranta, told Channels Television on Sunday that the response the committee had received from people within the regions visited – North-central, south-west, south-east and south-south – showed that majority of Nigerians would want the proposed conference to hold.
Mr Uranta said that the committee's meetings in the zones visited had been successful so far with the committee giving every individual an opportunity to speak.
"We have been instructed by the Nigerian President that there are no 'No Go Areas' as we dialogue with the people from the different zones and we have kept to that. Our duty is just to listen and not talk at all. We allow everybody to have a say as we tour the zones," he said.
He decried the heckling down of the Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, during the dialogue session held in the South-south zone and stressed that the committee had apologised to the governor over the involvement of one of its members in the 'undemocratic incident'.
"The committee sent a written apology to the governor. We are not supportive of anything that is undemocratic," he stated.
Since the incident in Edo State, the committee member, Col Tony Nyiam, has not been seen with the committee, a development that has left people asking if he had resigned.
Mr Uranta described as political the positions of those who had once clamoured for a National Conference but turned around to kick against it when President Goodluck Jonathan constituted the committee.
He said that the Nigerian Senate showed their readiness to ensure that sovereignty was reposed on the people by debating on a bill that would put the outcome of the National Conference when it is held to the people through a referendum.
Questions Begging Attention
"The bill has been sent to the House of Representatives for harmonization," he said.
Some Nigerians have expressed fears that the setting up of a committee on National Dialogue was a tactic to divert attention away from the issues and national questions begging attention now.
Responding to such claims, Mr Uranta said: "I do not know how a National Conference is going to stop governance.
"The points that have been troubling the Nigerian common man's mind are; how does he get food? How does he get water? How does he get transport? And more than these, how does he get security?
"These are issues that the National Conference can answer and these are issues that any and every government should be supportive of.
"This nation can survive as a nation if we allow the opportunities for different shades of opinion to be thrown down. We will all smile at the end of the day."
The committee is continuing its tour of the nation with a visit to Sokoto and other Northern states on Monday.
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