APC begins membership registration in November

The All Progressives Congress has will begin the registration of its members nationwide “tentatively” in November.
The Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made this known during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja.
“We have to plan the logistics. If you do not plan well, you are not going to achieve anything. So, what right now, we are at the level of planning because the exercise will take place all over Nigeria,” he said.
According to him, the nationwide membership registration will strengthen the party and enable it to contest all future elections in the country.
Mohammed said the party had harmonised and finalised the process as well as create a format of its activities that would enable it to participate in future elections.
He told NAN that harmonisation of membership registration into the party would also be carried out from ward level to ensure that all its members were registered.
The APC spokesman added that the party had successfully conducted its primaries in Anambra State.
“It is on record that we are the only political party that had a transparent and direct primary. This simply means that our party loyalists voted from the ward to the state level,” he said.

Punch

National Dialogue: Respond To Issues Raised By Tinubu Instead Of Attacking The Messenger – CNPP To Presidency

The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) yesterday berated the presidency over its response to the concerns expressed by former governor of Lagos State and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on the proposed National Dialogue.

The Presidency, while responding to the APC chieftain’s statement on the convocation of a National Dialogue said, “While the Tinubus of this world focus only on the 2015 general elections, most patriotic ordinary Nigerians are more concerned with the emergence of a united country based on equity and justice.”
But this line of argument was countered by the CNPP which argued that “The above statement is a farce, as the 2015 general elections hold higher hope for ordinary Nigerians’ aspirations for a change in government. It is the epitome of liberal democracies, upon which other meaningful changes are benched.”
Making its position known in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu, CNPP warned the Presidency to halt further attacks against the former Lagos governor and address the issues he raised on the proposed National Dialogue.
It said: “We call on the Presidency to respond to the germane message that truly, the national conference is a Greek Gift, diversionary and deceptive.
“This is the rational question raised by Tinubu and other patriots, which should be answered, rather than attacking the messenger.
“We listened carefully to the statement made by Tinubu on his arrival from a medical trip abroad and it is in tandem with CNPP’s position that President Jonathan is deceptively building a bridge to nowhere, as we cannot tell how the resolutions of the conference will work outside the 1999 Constitution without a Sovereign National Conference.

“Accordingly, our understanding is that Asiwaju, outside the diversionary and deceptive outlook of President Goodluck Jonathan’s conference, is worried about the credibility, reliability and capability of Mr. President to pull Nigeria through a free, fair and transparent 2015 general elections.
“CNPP pages with Asiwaju on the truism that Mr. President’s failure to pull through the unintended consequences of the conference may hazard and scuttle the 2015 general elections, especially when ethnic merchants dominate the 13-man Prep Committee.
“This fear is based on how President Jonathan demonstrated gross ineptitude and incapacity to manage his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“For with the umbrella of his party in tatters, how can he mobilise the party’s majority in the state and national assemblies to amend the 1999 Constitution and accommodate issues to be raised by the National Conference? For instance, the agitation of the Ijaw National Congress and others for self-determination, or is he bidding Nigeria goodbye? Answer urgently, please” the CNPP urged.
“Alternatively, for the avoidance of doubt, can rational patriotic Nigerians bank on a president, who, till date, woefully failed to address the core recommendations of the Uwais Electoral Reform Report; Lemu’s post-2011 General Elections-Crisis Report; Ambassador Galtimari’s Boko Haram Report and Orosanye Report; honour the 2009 Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) agreement and implement the 2012 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the union?” CNPP asked.

InformationNigeria

Healing power of bitter kola

Bitter kola

Bitter kola is a type of nut mostly found in several parts of Nigeria and West-Central Africa as a whole and the tree grows in the (tropical) rain forests. Its biological name is “Garcinia kola” and belongs to the family of “Guittiferal”. Bitter Kola has been identified as a potent antibiotic which could be effective in the treatment of many diseases. The fruit, seeds, nuts and bark of the tropical tree have been used for centuries in traditional medicines to treat many forms of ailments.

Chewing bitter kola relieves coughs, hoarseness, bronchial and throat troubles. Several studies discovered bitter kola to be a remedy for dysentery, osteoarthritis, antidote against poisoning and considered an aphrodisiac.

Improves lung functions

Bitter kola  has been used for centuries to treat chest colds in traditional medicine, but research has taken a look and found out why it is effective. A study in the 2009 issue of The Internet Journal of Pulmonary Medicine, performed on mice, reports that Garcinia kola improved respiratory function after 28 days of use of a Garcinia extract. Written by Simon Adekunle of the Ekiti State University in Nigeria, the study shows that Garcinia kola works by dilating the alveolar ducts and sacs in the lungs by improving the strength of the fibers in the lung tissue. Bitter kola’s beneficial lung properties are attributed to its high antioxidant content.

Bitter Kola health benefit for malaria

Considerable experimental studies found the chemical constituents in bitter kola have anti-malaria properties. That aside, traditional healers have for many years prescribed bitter kola for the treatment of malaria infections. Researchers who reported that bitter kola had anti-malaria effect in the 2010 issue of Journal of Medicinal Plants Research, from a survey of plants used by traditional healers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, attributed this to its quinones content.

Further more, kolaviron, the powerful chemical compound found in bitter kola, was reportedly tested on a malaria parasite and found to inhibit malarial activity.

Punch

Nwabueze battling prostate cancer

•Eminent lawyer explains why he rejected offer

The leader of “The Patriots”, a group of pro-national conference elder statesmen, Prof. Ben Nwabueze (SAN), explained yesterday why he turned down his appointment as a member of the National Conference Advisory Committee.

The retired university teacher said that his age and fragile health stood on the way of the national assignment, adding that he had been battling with prostrate cancer for years.

The committee chaired by former university don and politician Dr. Femi Okunrounmu, was inaugurated last week by the President. Ahead of the inauguration, the frontline legal scholar declined the offer and nominated another legal luminary, Chief Solomon Asemota (SAN), to represent The Patriots.

Nwabueze, in a statement in Lagos, said he was not expecting President Goodluck Jonathan to make him the chairman of the Advisory Committee. He said The Patriots only expected to nominate one of its members to serve on the committee.

He, however, promised to contribute to the conference’s proposals by mobilising lawyers and political scientists for a deliberation on the matter at the proposed Uyo National Summit.

Nwabueze said following the deliberation, he would submit “a Draft Peoples Constitution” to the Presidency and the National Assembly for consideration, stressing that this move would not conflict with the vague terms of reference given to the committee by the President.

The statement reads: “I cut short my stay in London for medicals and returned to Nigeria on Saturday 12 October, 2013 to keep a long-standing commitment to chair the Anambra Literary Creativity Festival at Awka on 15 October. It may be necessary for me, after my Awka engagement, to go back to London to continue my medicals.

“It is not generally known to people that I have been fighting prostrate cancer for some years now, and have been kept going by consultations from time to time with, and treatment by, a Consultant Oncologist at Charing Cross Hospital, London. My appointment with the Consultant Oncologist had been shifted many times because of several postponements in the dates of The Patriots meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Summit at Uyo, both of which eventually took place on 29 August and 3/4 September respectively, leaving me free at last to travel to London on 8 September for my medical appointments.

“After The Patriots fruitful meeting with the President, a member of our team who has access to him on a personal basis was mandated to go back to get him to set up the Committee on the National Conference of which he had earlier given a hint. My understanding from the contacts with him was that The Patriots would be asked to nominate a member to the Committee. I never expected to be appointed chairman or member of the Committee, and would, quite frankly, have considered such an appointment inappropriate in the circumstances. It is an appointment for a younger person, not for an old man of 83 years afflicted by ill-health.

“But The Patriots remain willing to work with the Presidential Committee, and to give it all necessary assistance, if called upon to do so.

“While still in London and before the setting up of the Presidential Committee was announced, I wrote to 13 prominent lawyers and political scientists to join me in a committee to prepare a Draft People’s Constitution which will be submitted for deliberation at the Uyo National Summit when it re-convenes in terms of Paragraph Seven of the communique adopted at the 3/4 September meeting, and thereafter to be presented to the Presidency and the National Assembly as a working Paper for the National Conference proper. “This is the area in which I think my contribution to the work of the Conference would be particularly useful, and I do not see this as in any way conflicting with the Terms of Reference of the Presidential Committee, although they (i.e. the Terms of Reference) contain a somewhat vaguely worded item, to wit, “to advise government on legal procedures and options for integrating decisions and outcomes of the national dialogue/conference into the constitution and laws of the nation.”

TheNation

Pray for new Progressive leadership, says Tinubu

All Progressives Congress (APC) leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu yesterday called on Nigerians to pray for a new, progressive leadership for the country at all levels of governance.

“In the face of our current challenges, we all must renew our commitment to build a new country and work to bring about a new leadership that will end the circle of youth unemployment, hardship, deprivation and near economic strangulation Nigerians are currently experiencing,” he said in his Eid-el-Kabir message.

While congratulating Muslims on witnessing yet another Eid-el-Kabir celebration, Tinubu urged them to rededicate their lives to Allah and never to forget the service of compassion and sacrifice.

“The lesson for this season and beyond is that we seek the face of God and never forget service to our fellowmen. Most importantly, we must pray for a better country, but not stop at praying but also work to achieve it,” he said.

Tinubu said Nigeria is destined to be great and her citizens destined to benefit from that greatness. He believes we have been held back in our progressive development because of bad leaders, bad policies and a weak level of patriotism.

“We need leaders that will put the people and this country first. Leaders that will go for broke and make the difference for Nigeria. Like in other developed countries, it takes just one leader to lead in the right direction. We must pray for such a leader to emerge. 2015 offers us another opportunity to make that change happen. For Nigeria, a new dawn is possible. And APC holds the key,” Tinubu said.

Not everyone loves Pope Francis: Conservative Catholics voice concern over 'revolutionary' message

Filippo Monteforte / AFP - Getty Images file

Pope Francis arrives for an open-air general audience at St. Peter's Square last week.

By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

Pope Francis' plain-spoken populism has won rave reviews, from people in the pews to the man in the Oval Office, but his pronouncements on everything from atheists to abortion have shaken some conservative and traditional Catholics.

Six months after he was installed on the Throne of St. Peter, the pontiff's comments in a series of interviews are being denounced in scattered corners as "reckless" or even "borderline heretical." One critic called him "the Joe Biden of our era."

Advertise | AdChoices

"The whispers are rising," said Steve Skojec, 35, a father of six from Manassas, Va., who said a scathing blog post he wrote about the pope's recent remarks got 20,000 views, compared with the usual 500. "There are more and more people who are feeling uncomfortable."

The skepticism rides behind a wave of praise for the down-to-earth Argentine — applauded for choosing Jesuit simplicity over Vatican opulence, emphasizing the poor and tweaking the powerful, and checking stridency at the door when talking about gay marriage, contraception or whether non-believers get into heaven.

"Best pope ever" is a frequent appraisal on Twitter, and President Obama, a Protestant, told CNBC this month that he is "hugely impressed" by the rookie leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics.

The broad-based adulation — only 4% of Americans in a recent poll had an unfavorable view of the pope — is vexing pockets of conservatives who want a harder line on core doctrine and who worry that even if Francis has not altered church teachings, his words will be misinterpreted or exploited.

"I'm very disturbed by these off-the-cuff, informal remarks," said Christopher Ferrara, a columnist for The Remnant, a Catholic newspaper that opposes many of the changes that accompanied Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. 

"In one sense, there's no harm because church teaching has not been changed, but in the other sense there is tremendous harm because not everyone understands church teaching," added Ferrara, who is drafting a letter to the Vatican requesting clarification on some of the pope's positions.

Courtesy Christopher Ferrara

Sign at an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kan.

He pointed to a Kansas women's clinic that posted on its fence a quote from Francis —saying Catholics should not focus only on hot-button issues like abortion and contraception — as a rebuke to protesters.

Julie Burkhart, director of the South Wind Women's Clinic in Wichita, said she put up the sign so "the people coming here to protest us and harassing our patients might pause and think about what else they could be doing with their time."

David Gittrich of Kansans for Life shot back that the quote was "taken out of context" and that it was "ridiculous" for the clinic to suggest the pope wants to dissuade anti-abortion activism.

Advertise | AdChoices

Many rank-and-file Catholics and commentators, even those who consider themselves religiously conservative, say Francis is tinkering with style, not substance. But others are quietly nervous — or loudly aghast.

“Is Pope Francis a wishy-washy spineless pope?  Perhaps a pawn, to be used by the liberals inside and outside the Church?" asked the author of the Connecticut Catholic Corner blog, who declined to speak on the record.

"I have a very dear Catholic friend who is freaking out because I am 'having issues' with Pope Francis.  It’s not that I don’t WANT to like him and think highly of him, I do.  I really, really do.  But… it’s just not happening for me.”

John Vennari, a traditional Catholicism advocate, put forth a conspiratorial view in a YouTube video, suggesting the pope's interviews are a way for him to get around writing encyclicals that would contradict church doctrine and the powerful Rome-based cardinals who would object to that.

“He’s leaping over their heads just to take this revolutionary message just straight to the people,” Vennari said.

Skojec said that because many people believe — mistakenly, he said — that anything the pope says is "infalliable," a pontiff has to be "very prudent and circumspect." Instead, he wrote, Francis has been "utterly reckless, theologically misleading, and borderline heretical."

Fans of Francis have predicted that his gentler tone might bring lapsed Catholics and young people into the church, but detractors say it might drive away a certain brand of congregant.

The Society of Saint Pius X, a breakaway group, said in a statement that the recent interviews had "provoked some new interest" in them and predicted membership would grow, "if the Holy Father confirms the direction he seems to be taking."

Stephen Heiner — a member of the sedevacantist movement, which argues there hasn't been a true pope in Rome since Vatican II —said the number of people listening to his podcast doubled from about 4,000 to 8,000 in reaction to the pope's statements.

"The fact that we, who could be considered fringe, are attracting listeners speaks to the discontent," he said, suggesting the pope stick to formal declarations and avoid media interviews and the potential for gaffes.

"He's the Joe Biden of our era," he said.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Jeffrey Tucker, editor of the New Liturgical Movement blog, said the super-traditionalists should relax, even though he admitted Francis left him unsettled at first because he is so different from his more formal predecessor.

"All of us miss Benedict — we just do. It's kind of how the kids never like the new stepfather," Tucker said. "You get groovy with it and everything's OK. There's a group of traditionalists that just don't get it, and they're terrified."

Advertise | AdChoices

Boston College theology professor Thomas Groome said it's easy to see why reactionaries would be on edge. While the pope hasn't messed with doctrine, a shift in priorities and pitch is clearly underway, he said.

"I think it will be a real test for conservative Catholics," he said. "They have always pointed the finger, quoting the pope for the last 35 years. Suddenly, will they stop quoting the pope. It'll be a good test of whether or not they're really Catholics."

NBCNews

Read Bola Tinubu’s Exposé On President Jonathan

Since I first made known my initial reaction to President Jonathan’s proposed National Dialogue/Conference the daggers have been out against me. Paid public relations gangs of the administration and some sympathizers have gone into overdrive in the media and public fora to denounce me for the position I have taken.

I thought I ought to enjoy the same right they have exercised by supporting Jonathan’s conference to also reject it and make my reaction known. Unfortunately it does not seem so. 

But I have news for them: 

I will not take anything I have said back on the proposed National Dialougue by this present administration. I insist that the planned national dialogue is a ‘Greek’ gift and public deception. I say beware of the Greek gift; let us first of all, ask a series of questions.

The government’s proposal is a walk down a back alley that leads only to a dead end. It has the same empty taste as sitting down to dine after all the food has been eaten and the table cleared.

I intend to raise fundamental questions/interrogations in the following response. I am known to have always reviewed the message or policy action of government after which I simply proceed to respond to the message and not the messenger. But this time around, my focus and response is to the messenger and not the message essentially. Questioning the messenger and his motives is my mission here as a Nigerian and a political leader. Also, in warning against Jonathan’s proposed Conference, I will put forward a few practicable suggestions.

The core questions to ask here is how credible, reliable and capable is the current President to be able to midwife a critical conference such as this? Will this President be sincere enough to let all the issues that are on the agenda be exhaustively discussed at the conference? Will thisPresident have the guts to implement fully all final resolutions of the conference without fear or favor or any pandering?

This is an administration that has been known to have flip-flopped on so many critical issues of national importance. President Jonathan was part of two issues of national importance in the recent past; Amnesty and the Uwais Panel on electoral reform. We all know what has happened to these two issues. The Amnesty conceived from inception has been corrupted and hijacked by the President’s clique. It is one of Nigeria’s drain pipes. A slush fund for political expeditions anda conduit to siphon money to the boys.

The Uwais Panel report gathers dust and suffers from constant cherry picking. What about the much-publicized SURE-P initiative of this administration? Another ill-conceived and fraudulently implemented program of this administration. Billions of naira have so far disappeared into private pockets and the treasury still bleeds. I can go on and on. Is this the leader we want to trust with organizing a National dialogue or is it conference they call it? Where is the capability? Where is the sincerity? Where is the presence of mind?

Recent Nigerian political history bears me out in this instance. Recall the call for a SovereignNational Conference began in earnest in the latter phase of the political transition programme of military president Ibrahim Babangida. Claiming that it was laying a solid foundation for a democracy that will endure, the regime turned Nigeria into a laboratory for all manner of political stunts.

Nigerians came to conclude that the regime was pursuing a not-so-hidden agenda of self-perpetuation and called for a Sovereign National conference to replace a transition programme that had clearly lost its momentum and its direction.

Next door, in Benin Republic, a Sovereign National Conference was being staged to chart a new course for a country that had virtually come to a standstill. Its crisp, bold and purposeful proceedings resonated in Nigeria, and Nigerians yearning for such a conference embraced the Beninoise model.

The military regime seemed at a point to embrace the concept, too, and even tried to enlist some prominent citizens to translate it into practice. But when it appeared those citizens had taken the regime more seriously than it took itself, the regime scuttled the idea and decreed jail sentences for anyone purporting to stage a national conference.

Then came the presidential election debacle of June 12, 1993, and with it, renewed calls for a Sovereign National Conference. The election crisis swept out the military regime, but not before it had planted a surrogate, the so-called Interim National Government, a clueless outfit that lasted three months but drove Nigeria to the edge of ruin, until it was overthrown by General Abacha.

To win public acceptance, Abacha promised to stage a National Conference with “constituent powers.” This was another act of bad faith, for Abacha packed the assembly with his hand-picked nominees. Those who were not his nominees were products of an election that was widely boycotted, persons who could hardly be described as authentic representatives of their constituencies. The conference exercised nothing close to the “constituent powers” Abacha had promised. The five political parties that emerged from the constitutional framework designed by the Assembly all ended up endorsing Abacha as their presidential candidate. Abacha’s death ended the charade. Knowing that Nigerians were no longer prepared to put up with military rule, Abacha’s colleagues hastily put together a constitution to serve as the legal framework for the civilian administration inaugurated in 1999.

The constitution was not published until it came into effect. It was not debated. Those who took office swore an oath to defend a Constitution they had not seen, and the provisions of which they did not know.

Soon, it became clear that it was riddled with grave defects. Despite its portentous preface, “We, the People,” it was not a people’s constitution. The people played hardly any role in its writing. It did not reflect their yearnings. Some legal authorities even went so far as to call the document a forgery.

And so, demands for a Sovereign National Conference broke out afresh, to design a new constitutional order for Nigeria, one anchored on the core principles of federalism and warranted by the preface, “We, the People.”

Then came the Obasanjo’s constitutional review process by the National Assembly in the twilight of his administration. The process came up with 118 recommendations most of which were far reaching and dealt with critical and contentious issues of nationhood. It became ill-fated due to the failure to smuggle in the third term tenure extension provision. The rest, as they say, is now history.

Now, we are about to embark on a similar futile exercise. And here is why. Until some two to three months back, our demands for a sovereign national conference found little sympathy in the Executive and Legislative branches of government, until some three weeks ago when Senate President, David Mark, issued a qualified endorsement. Then, in his National Independence Day Broadcast, President Jonathan Goodluck, announced to everyone’s surprise that the Federal Government would indeed sponsor a National Conference, at which Nigeria’s ethnic nationalists would discuss and negotiate the terms of continued association.

Within days, Dr. Jonathan named a chairman and members of a committee to advise on modalities for staging the conference and submit a report within one month.

I, like other well-meaning Nigerians, must welcome this shift. It is an admission, at last, that the wide cracks in the national fabric can no longer be papered over, and that the time has come for fresh thinking on fundamental problems, the existence of which has for too long been denied.

Yet, President Jonathan’s epiphany–if epiphany it is and not an expedient calculated to enhance his 2015 reelection bid – should be subjected to searching questions.

It is difficult to lay aside the suspicion that his sudden conversion is all about 2015. Otherwise, why the sudden endorsement of a National Conference, not merely in principle, but with a rush toward some form of implementation? What has happened that was not already in play in all those years during which the authorities rejected demands for a National Conference?

Second, it is also difficult to lay aside the suspicion that the government is now embracing the idea with a view to watering it down, if not smothering it altogether. What its proponents have been canvassing is a Sovereign National Conference organized by the sovereign people of Nigeria, not one staged by the government. Government will figure in that Conference only as a facilitator, not as organizer.

Many of the ethnic nationalities clamouring for a Sovereign National Conference are contesting nothing less than the legitimacy of the Nigerian State as presently constituted. It cannot be an answer to their misgivings that the Federal Government, the agent of that state, is set to take charge of a Sovereign National Conference designed to chart a new path.

Third, Dr. Jonathan did not indicate whether the Conference will be sovereign or exercise constituent powers. That omission is not reassuring. What Nigerians have been demanding is a Sovereign National Conference whose decisions can only be ratified or rejected by the people in a national referendum. There is no room for a Government White Paper or Blue Paper or Paper of any colour whatsoever in such a scheme.

Fourth, it must be asked whether this is an opportune moment for the conference, when the ruling party is in disarray, a large portion of the country is convulsed by Boko Haram violence and killings, and permutations over a general election have already taken centre stage in the affairs of the nation two years ahead of schedule.

Would staging a National Conference in such a setting not overheat the polity? Would it not be better to defer the Conference until after the general elections? There is still so much to do to ensure that the election is free and fair, conforms to the best practices, and represents the true will of the people.

Though I remain an unrepentant supporter of a genuine Sovereign National Conference, I am suspicious of this present concoction because it is half- baked and fully deceptive. Government’s sincerity is questionable, the timing is also suspect. Now that this government is sinking in a pool of political and economic hot water of its own making, it seizes hold of the national conference idea as if it were a life jacket.

This government habitually puts the wrong leg forward. In the face of debilitating terrorist attacks by Boko Haram, kidnappings across the country and a general insecurity, this government wants to open up another political front by hurriedly organizing a national conference. This rankles the brain.

This government has not the honesty, foresight, tolerance and objectivity to hold a National Conference of any type. This government is so partisan and parochial, it can’t even hold its own party together. How dare it even think it can organize a national conference that lives up to its name by being truly representative of all the nation’s constituent parts! At most, all they can conduct is a conference comprised of one section of their party and those shell, artificial civil society groups that purport to reflect the public’s mind, yet do nothing but spew government propaganda and get paid good naira for their service. This government cannot hold a National Conference anymore than a comatose man can stand and hold up a candle that the rest of us might see our way to a better Nigeria.

Before embarking on new public relations ploys to whitewash its tarnished record, the government should treat some long outstanding issues and matters. This government cannot give what it does not have.

If the conference must be held now, we must return to the spade work already done by the Obasanjo government in the aspect of constitutional review. Let the Jonathan government bring it out, remove the third term toxic component and set up a technical review committee to examine the 118 recommendations therein. We must continue from where we disagreed. Nation building is a progressive work and to totally jettison the considerable spade work already done is to set back the hands of the clock. Time is not on our side.

Secondly, this government should implement the Uwais recommendations on electoral reforms. That report was the work of imminent Nigerians and it was done after widespread consultations to constituencies far and wide. We all know that our electoral system is broken and unfair. If the President has done nothing to fully implement this corrective report that would fix a system so blatantly broken, why would he implement recommendations of national conference if those recommendations do not suit his narrow purposes? The government should first implement this important work in order to demonstrate to Nigerians that it can hold and honor the outcome of a National dialogue.

This government should do so to show that it has nothing to hide and is willing to engage in the upcoming electoral contest on a level playing field.

This government must first show good faith for Nigerians to believe them. President Jonathan is not the man to give Nigerians a true National Conference. He can only give us a “Jonathan Conference” as bitter icing on the sour cake his government has become. This government lacks the presence of mind and the decency to implement a national conference.

This administration has not achieved any tangible transformation because it has no concrete goals. Now it tilts and staggers under the weight of insecurity. Claims of transformation and of building an economy that is robust and institutions of democracy, by the President shows someone who believes fiction is more important than fact and imagination is more genuine than reality. While I would not mind such a person to be a leading figure in our Nollywood film industry, I am frightened that he is the chief resident in Aso Villa.

Both in timing and in style, previous administrations adopted the same tricks of National Conference as a framework to structure their agenda to which people presented memoranda and attended plenaries before realising it was a trick.

This government’s offer of a National Conference is a wingless bird. It will not fly. The advisory committee set up to design a framework and come up with recommendations as to the form, structure and mechanism of the process will soon find out they are on a journey with no destination save the wall of futility.

Yes, we need to talk. However, we need a national conference that is truly sovereign and not one dictated by the reactionary and regressive elements of the ruling party. This is not the way to clear Nigeria from danger. This is a selfish ploy that will place the nation deeper in darkness and indirection.

Nigeria is adrift and unless we start a discourse aimed at updating and improving our political economy and its structures, we might wake up one day from a night devoid of dreams because we have turned into a nation devoid of hope.

However, an imposed national conference by individuals who have shown total disdain for anything nationalistic that does not unduly benefit them and who have demonstrated lack of respect for the opinions of others because they are in “Power” will have little success. It will be an empty and expensive futility with no true dividends for a people wanting their leaders to show them a way out of the pit and not a way deeper into it.

By Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu

CityPeople