National Conference: Yadudu, Ozekhome Endorse 70% Voting Pattern

Confab delegates

Chuks Okocha and Onyebuchi Ezigbo

There were indications Saturday that the row over the voting format at the National Conference may be put to rest when delegates reconvene on Monday as the two key protagonists of the opposing voting patterns, Prof. Anwalu Yadudu and Chief Mike Ozoekhome, have endorsed the 70 per cent voting system arrived at by the 50-member committee set up to resolve the issue.

Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Southern delegate, had ignited the controversy over the voting pattern when he sought for an amendment to Order 6 Rule 4, which provides that any question proposed for decision in the conference shall be determined by consensus and when this is not achievable, by a three-quarter majority of the delegates present at voting. He had maintained that three-quarter majority was not feasible and requested that two-third majority should be adopted as the voting format in the absence of consensus.

His position was however faulted by Yadudu, a professor of Law and northern delegate, who insisted that the 75 per cent majority voting pattern as stated in President Goodluck Jonathan's speech during the inauguration of the conference should be retained. The debate on the issue consequently polarised the delegates along regional lines with northern delegates canvassing for the three-quarters voting system while their southern delegates pushed for a two-thirds majority vote.

However, a 50-member committee, tagged The Consensus Group, which was set up last Wednesday to resolve the logjam over whether the conference should adopt the three-quarters voting system or the two-thirds option, agreed on 70 per cent after several hours of meeting on Thursday.
Yadudu, a delegate from the North-west told THISDAY yesterday that he was satisfied with the 70 per cent proposal being a product of consensus among the 50-member committee.

"You know I was part of the decision and I feel it is something that is in the best interest of the conference. It is based on the consensus building principle to which I subscribe, " he said..
On whether the 70 per cent arrangement will be acceptable to the delegates who are expected to vote for its adoption when the conference reconvenes on Monday, Yadudu said it was his wish that the new proposal sailed through.

The delegate from the North-west zone, also expressed optimism that the 70 per cent voting pattern would enable the conference reach decisions that are popular.
"I wish the delegates will accept it, since it is a product of consensus. Every member of the committee will be reaching back to their constituency to present it and hopefully it will be adopted by the delegates on Monday.

"We reached the new proposal by consensus and hopefully all the other issues at the conference will be resolved by consensus. Whether it is three quarters or two thirds is not the issue, as far as I am concerned, it is consensus that gave rise to the 70 per cent and I hope it will never get to the point of voting in order to agree on issues. We will try to resolve things by consensus, " he added.
On his part, Ozekhome, in a telephone interview with THISDAY, described the proposed 70 per cent voting option as a compromise deal which will satisfy delegates.

The legal luminary who had moved a counter motion to amend the 75 per cent or three quarters voting format to two thirds, said it was a good thing that the 50-member consensus committee did by proposing the 70 per cent voting format as a compromise option.

"I believe that 70 per cent is a middle course. Those who wanted two third majority vote which I super-headed, which is about 66.3 per cent, would have lost 3.7 per cent from our demand and those clamouring for 75 per cent, by agreeing on 70 per cent would also have lost only 5 per cent. That kind of compromise is what we need in the conference to move the country forward.

"I have always said that everything we are going to do at the conference will have to be by compromise, by way of horse-trading and mutual understanding devoid of suspicion. Even if we agree on a simple majority of one third, two third, three quarter or consensus, it will still go down to the fact that we, as brothers and sisters, must have common grounds to do things and succeed and make this country to move forward," he said.

He said the conference would never achieve anything tangible if any group imposed its position on others.
"I was the one who made the proposition for the adoption of two thirds when we were discussing the procedure rules of the conference, that three quarter majority vote provided in the proposal will not be feasible. I used the word that it was too humongous, too elephantine and too behemoth and highly unachievable.

"I had argued that three quarter, which is 75 per cent of the delegates amounting to 369, is not going to be possible to achieve. I had also argued that considering a scenario where 74 per cent of the delegates have voted for an issue with 1 per cent left of the 75 per cent required, that will mean that the issue has been defeated. And what it simply means is that the small percentage of the delegates which is regarded as the tiny tyrannical minority would have carried the day as against the helpless 74 per cent majority."