Former Secretary General of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Elder Anthony Sani, has cautioned those calling for the implementation of the 2014 National Conference report, stating that doing so would be against the constitution of Nigeria.
According to him, the only way the current government could reap from the benefits of the report of the 2014 national conference is to ask the National Assembly to adopt part of the report as resource materials in their efforts to amend the current constitution.
In a statement yesterday, Sani stated that, “when some respected people call on the government to implement the report of the conference of 2014, I wonder if such people feign ignorance of the fact that we are practicing multiparty democracy.”
He added: “The 2014 conference comprised unelected delegates whose decisions cannot be binding. More so, the ruling APC did not participate in the conference. The only way the conference can be useful is for the NASS to use its reports as resource materials in the course of their efforts to amend the current constitution.”
“In the alternative, any political party, which fancies some aspects of the report, is at liberty to include them in its manifesto and canvass for the electoral mandate needed for implementation.
“That is how multiparty democracy works. I say this because while there is national consensus on the nature of problems confronting the nation, there is no corresponding national consensus on methods of solution, hence the significance of multiparty democracy where each political party represents distinct method of solving national concerns.
“The party’s method is used for canvassing electoral mandate needed for execution. It is not for a select elite to foist their preference on the rest of the country.”
