Despite the unanimous adoption of the National Conference reports at the plenary session last Thursday, a document signed by the Chairman of the Northern Delegates Forum (NDF), Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie, who is also the Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Lt. General Jeremiah Useni, has outlined discrepancies in the final report of the conference.
In the letter addressed to the Chairman of the Conference, Justice Idris Kutigi, the Northern delegates demanded that the identified errors in the reports must be corrected before submission to President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday.
The Northern delegates listed misrepresentations on how the Inspector General of Police should be appointed, the mistake in the removal of the land use act, the scrapping of the State Independent Electoral Commission from the constitution as some of the issues that were contrary to the decisions of the national conference.
Also, the Northern delegates said some of the criteria for the creation of new states were not adequately represented in the final report, while criteria for the payment of royalties, infrastructures for border towns, extension of the continental shell project were missing in the final report.
According to Coomasie and Useni, "Page 257 H2.4 - Appointment of IGP contradicts provisions of page 258 K; Conference recommendation is the provisions captured on page 257 H. Page 260 C 5.11 (4) (C): This amendment was rejected by the conference"
On the land use, they said: "Page 21: The following recommendations contained in Chapter 6 of Vol. 2 of the final draft are missing in chapter 5 of Vol. 1:page 678 (3) Infrastructure for border towns, page 678 (4) Bakassi, page 680 (10) Nigeria's Extended Continental Shell Project (NECSP), page 680 (6.10 3(1)) Royalties page 682 (iii) Boundaries enforced and Conference recommendation on Wednesday 9th July was to retain the Land Use."
The document further said: "Conference recommendation on Wednesday 9th July was to retain the Land Use Acts in the constitution. See page. 249 para. 52 (a) of Vol. 1 of the Draft Report. Equally on pg. 657 (1) the Land Use Act was retained in the constitution with some amendments.
However the document titled: Draft Constitution" on page 267 proposes the deletion of Section 315 of the Constitution contrary to the resolution of conference. This by implication puts the total laws of the country in complete jeopardy and specifically deletes the Security Agencies Act, NYSC Act and Public Complaints Commission Acts".
On Citizenship, they said on Page 107 (G), the way it was couched appears to be contradictory and discriminatory. It should therefore be deleted from the report. The recommendation as amended by the Votes and Proceedings of Wed. 21st May, item 13 "page 18, 1.4th paragraph additional recommendation (d) persons incorporated into Nigeria by plebiscite after Independence" was omitted from the final report.
"Another recommendation omitted from the Votes and Proceedings of Thursday 22nd of May, 2014 at page 23, para. 33 (J) (ii) additional recommendations "A person born in a state or who marries an indigene of a State acquires automatic residence status in the State".
"Another omitted recommendation: The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps are very close to the grassroots people and have mandates that should be adjusted to make them more responsive to the conditions of internally displaced person (IDP).
Source: ThisDay
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