The National Conference officially ended its plenary on Thursday amidst solidarity songs by delegates who adopted its final report.
Thursday’s plenary drew the curtains on the almost five-month conference which was characterised by heated debates, political maneuvering and caucus meetings by various interest groups.
President Goodluck Jonathan inaugurated the conference on March 17, 2014.
The peaceful end to the conference came as a surprise to many as northern delegates who had maintained a hard stance on some aspects of the report, especially the ‘draft constitution, participated fully in adopting the document .
The opinion during the plenary was that the political maneuvering by the Chairman of the conference, Justice Idris Kutigi, made the angry delegates to sheath their swords.
Sources said that Kutigi had meetings with the leaders of the various zones on Wednesday where several issues were addressed.
One of the sources said it was during the meetings that a decision was reached that a motion should be moved at the plenary to change the title of one of the volumes of the reports from ‘draft constitution” to “ proposed amendments to the 1999 Constitution.”
At the plenary on Thursday, a delegate from Yobe State, Maina Waziri, therefore moved the motion for this correction.
Waziri’s motion read, “To cultivate a conducive environment for delegates to validate and adopt the final report of the conference, we the undersigned delegates, hereby offer and endorse the following observations and recommendation that seek to facilitate the process and lead to amicable ending of the conference proceedings.
“We note that the secretariat of the conference on August 11, 2014 tabled before delegates a draft report contained in three volumes that are broken down in seven chapters
“In particular, we observed that volume III titled draft constitution, conveys an attempt to insert various resolutions and recommendations of a constitutional nature that were adopted by the conference as proposed amendments to the appropriate sections of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
“We recall and welcome the clarification and confirmation offered by conference chairman at plenary on August 13, 2014 that indeed Volume III contains proposals for the amendment of the 1999 Constitution.
“We urge the leadership of the conference, in collating the final report, to more appropriately designate Volume 111 as: Draft Proposals to Amend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
“Furthermore, we note and welcome the amenability of the conference secretariat to entertain suggestions from the delegates that point out any specific error to misrepresentation of decisions taken or resolutions adopted by the conference and/or any inadvertent failure to incorporate same in the draft report.
“We are aware that delegates have responded to this call and submitted to the Secretariat their various observations and suggested amendments to the draft.
“In preparing the final report, we urged the conference secretariat to keep faith with and reflect fully and accurately all resolutions and recommendations accepted by the conference and as contained in votes and preceding that were formally adopted.
“Subject to the acceptance of the foregoing understanding, assurances and conditions and in accordance with the Procedure Rules, 2014 of the conference, we move for the validation and adoption of the draft reports contained in volume 1,2 and 3 without further debate.
“In the spirit of the consensus building cultivated by members and to maintain the bridges built during the currency of the conference, we urge all delegates to subscribe to this plea.”
The motion, when put to voice vote separately by the chairman received a unanimous acceptance by the delegates.
Another motion had earlier been moved to “mandate the secretariat to vet and effect amendment” to the three reports prepared by the secretariat.
The motion was sponsored by Jerry Okwuonu and a former Governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili.
The motion says, “Whereas the secretariat has done a very marvelous job of compiling the report of the Conference and presenting same to us in easily readable and cross-checkable format; and
“Whereas delegates have perused all the reports and submitted in writing all items of omission or incorrect addition to the final report; and
“Bearing in mind the dual necessity of bringing the conference to a close for purposes of not unduly over-reaching the logistics provision of the conference and not unnecessarily prolonging the continued conglomeration of people in contradiction to the prescription of Health Authorities especially as the country tackles the Ebola crisis.
“It is hereby moved that the secretariat be mandated to vet all the written submission by delegates and make necessary correction thereby providing the final draft of the Conference reports”.
After the adoption of these motions, the delegates spontaneously stood up and enthusiastically sang the old National Anthem “Nigeria We Hail Thee”.
The chairman then called on Richard Akinjide (SAN) to formally move a motion for the adoption of the final conference report.
Akinjide, while moving the motion, said it was an honour to be called upon to move a motion for the adoption of the final report of a “very successful conference”.
The youngest delegate to the Conference, 24-year old Miss Yadoma Mandara, seconded the motion.
Shortly after, delgates took turns to pour encomium on the leadership of the conference for their maturity in steering the conference proceedings.
Former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah gave the vote of thanks which received spontaneous applause from delegates.
A delegate representing the South-South, Orok Duke, read out a farewell poem titled “How Can We Say Farewell,” to the delegates.
After adoption of Votes and Proceedings for the day based on a motion by Josephine Anenih and seconded by Dr. Bello Mohammed, Kutigi called on the Lamido Adamawa, Mohammed Mustapha, to move a motion for the closure of the conference.
Mike Ahamba (SAN), who seconded the motion, said Thursday was a day of pride and honour because “when we came here, nobody expected us to end this conference. We have disappointed skeptics.”
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