Controversy at confab over draft constitution

• Again, delegates adjourn to tomorrow
• Summit to change status quo, says Braithwaite
DESPITE the controversy over alleged attempts to introduce a new constitution into the report of the national conference, the leadership of the group yesterday stunned members as it went ahead to present a copy of the draft document to the delegates.
While some of the delegates saw the introduction of the draft constitution as a proactive measure by the conference leadership headed by Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi, others described the document as ‘strange’ and ‘illegal’ and it must be discarded.
Besides, a delegate to the conference has said that the summit would challenge the status quo and inaugurate a new social order.
Dr. Tunji Braithwaite, a delegate on the platform of elder statesmen spoke with The Guardian yesterday in Abuja at the National Judicial Institute (NJI), venue of the conference, after collecting the bulky papers, saying, “I will assure Nigerians to expect a move away from the decadent past.”
Already, indications have emerged that a fresh crisis will unfold at the conference when the delegates who reconvened after a long recess resume plenary tomorrow to adopt the final reports, as some members have alleged that the leadership of the group ‘smuggled’ a strange document that was not sanctioned by the entire delegates.
The atmosphere yesterday at the National Judicial Institute (NJI), venue of the confab was characterised by uncertainty and expectations and when the delegates converged, members were handed a set of documents including a copy each of a draft constitution and two volumes of the draft copy of the report of the confab and a Hansard.
The members are expected to digest the documents within 48 hours and return tomorrow for the final adoption of the recommendations which will thereafter be transmitted to President Goodluck Jonathan.
But some delegates have opposed the introduction of a draft constitution among the ‘strange’ documents handed over to the delegates, just as some other conferees who sought more time to read the details said the documents were too voluminous to be read over within 48 hours and prayed the leadership to grant more days to enable members to digest the content before returning for plenary sometime next week.
Kutigi and his deputy, Akinyemi were absent from the resumed sitting yesterday, but the secretary, Valerie Azinge, who announced the decision, explained that it was beyond her purview to unilaterally alter the position of the leadership on the matter. Consequently, all the delegates yesterday left the venue with copies of the sundry documents.
Azinge had told the conferees who were already seated that she was mandated to inform the delegates that there would be no formal sitting until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow.
She urged the delegates to collect the documents prepared for them and study them before returning tomorrow for the resumed sitting.
The four voluminous documents distributed to the delegates were the main report which came in two volumes - volumes one and two; and bound draft constitution. This has three columns, the existing constitution, the second column contains all the amendments suggested by the delegates and the third column is a fusion of the constitution and the amendments suggested by the delegates.
She added that to make for easy reading, “we have also extracted the third column, which is the fusion of the existing constitution with the amendments as a draft on one hand and a bill to introduce the amendments.
“So, you will have the main report volume one; main report volume two; draft constitution bound and then bills to amend the constitution in its state and as the draft constitution, which is the fusion of the existing constitution plus what you suggested and votes and proceedings and the Hansards from March to July.
But Sani Zoro, representing the civil society organisation while raising concerns about the absence of Kutigi and Akinyemi, commended the leadership of the conference for coming up with a draft constitution, which he said was never expected. He assured that the delegates would go through them as directed by the leadership of the conference.
However, Chairman of Labour Party and a conferee, Chief Dan Wuanyanwu, said it was not possible to read all the documents between yesterday and tomorrow. He said that it was not also possible to exhaust deliberations on all the documents between Wednesday and Thursday.
He, therefore, requested extension of sitting to Monday next week, a suggestion which was rejected by the secretary on the ground that this was beyond her mandate.
But apparently speaking the minds of the northern delegates, Prof. Auwalu Yadudu, who gave the indication of a stormy session ahead following the introduction of a draft constitution in an interview yesterday, said he was not inclined to endorsing a document which had no input from the generality of the conference delegates.
Yadudu, who represents the North West geopolitical zone at the conference, vowed to distance himself from the recommendations of the draft constitution when the issue comes up on the floor, and insisted that President Goodluck Jonathan did not assign the conference to draw up a draft constitution when he inaugurated it in March 2014.
He wondered how the secretariat of the conference came about the draft constitution.
“Personally, I don’t think it is of any use. It’s a waste of time, I have no hand in it and I don’t think it is anything that we should worry about. And that will be my position when the adoption of the resolutions comes up on the floor. That I have no hand in it and I don’t know how it is being drawn. I cannot endorse what I am not a part of. The president did not ask us to draw up a draft constitution, and if he had, I know of no committee or the conference at plenary drawing up a draft constitution. You should ask the secretariat how they came about this draft. It is a strange and an unauthorised document which has no input from the conference and I have nothing to do with it.”
He advised Jonathan to adhere to the provisions of the 1999 constitution which has already defined the procedure for the amendment of the constitution.
“I’d advise him to do what the constitution mandates him, which is there is a procedure laid down in the 1999 constitution from which he himself drew his mandate to establish us (confab). I would encourage him to follow it. And the procedure is to amend the Nigerian constitution.

There is a procedure that confers the mandate on the National Assembly which if it initiates any procedure, whether public hearing, plenary and whatever, and they adopt resolutions, and the resolution could be to amend a section or a few sections like they did in the electoral reforms among others. If they do so then what they need to do then is they adopt it by 2/3 of the majority of the National Assembly.
“And if they adopt it by 2/3 majority then they should send it through the state houses of assembly which must also accept it by 2/3. So, 24 states out of 36. That is the procedure known to our constitution and we know of no other procedure.”
On the fact that the National Assembly was already working on amending a few sections of the constitution, he said: “It is not for me to ask them to stay action on what they are doing or to continue with it, but we have done our own assignment. I have been the deputy chairman of the committee on Law, Judiciary and Legal Reform. And our advice was that we anticipate that our recommendations will go to the National Assembly and we advised the president to initiate and interface with them so that that will be facilitated. The president should know what to do.”
But Olusola Ibiseyeni, a legal practitioner, representing the South West on the platform of former local government chairmen, argued that the inclusion of the draft constitution among the documents to the delegates was not misplaced.
Ibiseyeni who is a current commissioner in Ondo State said the leadership of the confab should be commended for the bold decision to introduce the draft constitution.
His words: “Several documents were given to delegates. And a brief perusal of the documents will show clearly that the inclusion of a draft constitution is not misplaced at all. The conference has taken several, far-reaching decisions on the constitution and several laws in Nigeria. The constitution in my own view has been so touched by different resolutions of conference that I think what the leadership of the conference has done is a two-pronged approach.
“In that same document you will see an Act for the amendment of the constitution. In another column you will see provisions for a new constitution. If you go through the one on amendment you will discover that the deleting and adding as it were will make amendment to the constitution almost unreadable. So, it is neat in my own view to have a draft constitution that will incorporate all the amendments and the resolutions. It has not done any harm to anyone except those who are romanticising the past, those who see themselves as the giver of the constitution to Abacha and the rest of them who now feel touched that there is an attempt to destroy what they have done.
“But it is about Nigeria, it is not about individuals. I think rather than fidget or be jittery over a new draft constitution I think the leadership of the conference needs to be commended for what they have done.
“Yes, even if you go beyond amendments, this is a conference of the people, whether you like it or not it has a greater legitimacy than the military that gave us the 1999 constitution. Of course, it might be a way of having an autochthonous and people-oriented constitution for the people of Nigeria. I think the leadership of the conference needs to be saluted for the courage to bring this. It is finer, it is readable, it is more comprehensible and it is corporatised of the decisions that we have taken in conference.”
On the protest by some of the members against the draft constitution, he said: “You don’t need to be party to it because those who brought the draft constitution have not drafted any constitution. Let them go and read it. What they have done is to incorporate our own decisions. Yes, the National Assembly is there. But the duty of the national parliament is to make laws. There is no section in the entirety of the constitution that says the National Assembly shall give a constitution to the people of Nigeria. So, their duty is to make laws and that is where it ends. If a new constitution is going to be given it doesn’t have to emanate from the National Assembly.”
For delegate Temitope Ajayi: “Our reputation is on the line. I don’t think anybody will do anything at this time. You know we always complain and that’s part of us. I don’t think this confab will do anything that is illegal. It’s natural for people to complain, but time will unfold itself because if you can see the volume of what we’ve done we deserve credit. Because we were very passionate about the future of this country. And the president has been so passionate, so I don’t think anybody will do anything illegal because the whole world is looking at us. Let’s all wait, they have given us 48 hours, which I think is not enough, even if we are geniuses. But we have to get started somewhere. By the time we come back on Wednesday the event will unfold itself.”
Also reacting, the Chief Priest of Benin Kingdom, Nosakhare Isekhure, representing the National Council of Traditional Rulers expressed optimism that the conference would resolve all the contending issues amicably.
His words: “We have discussed some issues, which under a normal partisan political setting would not have been mentioned. But we have touched everything that we need to discuss because we felt that if the opportunity is missed, we may not have another one sooner to gather this kind of people to come and sit to discuss like this.
“No matter how painful the solutions are, we must be able to proffer them. When we finish what we have done, we are going home with the volumes of the recommendations that were made and how we arrived at them, we would take them home, read and dissect them, by the time we are back, we would be able to know if what is included in the draft report is the same with what we discussed at plenary. The final output would be what that would address, the many of the problems in our society.
“I am optimistic because the delegates are responsible people. If they go back home now, they would read and digest all the recommendations. We have voted on it earlier and there has been no serious objection on many issues, which we arrived at through consensus, like the issue of land tenure, gender issues and others. The only disagreement was just the percentage to be shared as derivation.
“But I think that by the time we return and the drafts are properly read, and digested properly and issues are looked at from humanitarian angle, if you say you want to judge your neighbour, put yourself in his position, if he is well placed, then go ahead based on the fact .”
Braithwaite said those who came to the conference expecting the status quo to remain would be greatly disappointed, as far-reaching recommendations had been made to move the country forward.
“There is no doubt that our nation at this point in time is indeed at a crossroads, and this is why it is strange that some people would think that we would come out of this conference, maintaining the status quo on major key structural areas in our country.
“We cannot do that, there has to be fundamental change. In other words, the country has to be reinvented… We have been operating a unitary system, foisted on the country by the military and we have to go to strictly federal system.
“The federating units must have 100 per cent control of their resource. This isn’t political, this is developmental. Because that is the only way that development and growth can reach every nook and corner of the country. That is the rationale for devolution of power to the federating units,” Braithwaite said.
He stressed that redundant outlooks and other such emotions must be set aside in order for the right course to take effect and develop the country.
“This is why I cannot accommodate unnecessary sentiments particularly on this issue of devolution of power. I served on that committee and I disagreed with their status quo stance and I made that point clear at the plenary.”
On the issue of another constitution being drafted by the conference, a source at the secretariat told The Guardian that contrary to reports, the conference did not draft a constitution, but only made recommendations for some amendments to be done on the constitution.
“These amendments are what have been compiled for onward circulation to the delegates before they are forwarded to the president. So that is not to say here is a new constitution, and I am not aware that a new constitution is being drafted either. It is just the amendments,” he said.
Braithwaite said: “The compilation of the resolutions particularly those that affect the 1999 constitution must come out of the conference. There is no way we could come to this conference and spend four months without drastically restructuring the 1999 constitution.”