NATIONAL CONFERENCE!!!
Northern Delegates Reject New State For South/East
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| Northern Delegates Reject New State For South/East |
The delegates are, therefore, mobilising to thwart the suggestion before it gets into the final resolution.
Spokesman for the northern delegates and former Publicity Secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum ACF, Anthony Sani, described the agitation as misplaced.
However, one of the Igbo delegates and President of the South-East Forum, Dr. Ezekiel Izuogu, has called for the cancellation of the conference, saying except other delegates are ready to listen to the “reasonable propositions” of others, the exercise is a waste of time and money.
But Sani faulted those who said the agitation was to pacify the South-East, saying no one had wronged anyone.
He also said the present circumstance where many of the states were not economically-viable and where many of the governors had contributed to the underdevelopment of the country, it would be foolish to create more states.
“When people say we should create states to pacify them (South-East), the impression one gets is that a wrong has been done. It is not so.
“To create states, there are conditions that must be met. One, how homogeneous, the population, the landmass and lastly, the viability. All these are there.
“We have insisted, in the light of so many created and which have led to the underdevelopment of the country while some are not viable, that will it be politically correct to still create states? We have to address that.
“I feel a bit worried when the South-East insists that on the basis of equality, there must be six states. When people say appease, it is as if they have been wronged.
“South-West was a region and it has six states. The old Eastern Region has nine. The whole of the North, which is half or even more than half of the country, has just 19. You do not just create states like that,” he said.
On whether the northern delegates will shoot down the proposal before the final report of the conference, Sani said the North would move against it, stressing that it would amount to injustice against her people.
“If it is on the basis of equality that they are making that suggestion, we are going to counteract it. Have they forgotten that injustice is not just when equals are treated unequally but when unequals are treated equally?”
Izuogu described the stance of the North as “unfortunate”.
He said if others were not ready to listen to reasonable propositions, then it would be wrong to continue with the conference.
“It is unfortunate. It means they (North) do not want us to remain as one country. Look at Bayelsa, it is very small but it is a state. The South-East is very big. We are just asking for one more, after all, the North- West has seven. Let us be at par with others.
“We are reasonable. This is a reasonable proposition. If people do not want to listen to a reasonable proposition, then we can as well go back home and forget this conference. If people want to reason as mad men, then there is no need for the conference in the first place,” he said.
Members of the National Conference Committee on Political Restructuring, and Forms of Government had last week canvassed the creation of an additional state in the South-Eeast to redress the apparent marginalisation of the geopolitical zone.
Senator Femi Okurounmu underscored the need for the creation of an additional state to strike a balance in the present number of states in the zones.
The President-General, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Iwo Igariwo, backed his view.
Mrs. Binta Garba had, however, called for the creation of Sardauna state in the North and adding a state to the South-East.
But Mr. Yinka Odumakin, a South-West delegate, who also supported the idea of another state in the South-East, said it should be based on the principle of self-sufficiency, claiming that most states were not economically viable.
Chairman of the committee, Gen. Ike Nwachukwu, had expressed optimism that the proposal would scale through.
He said: “I must thank my committee members for their maturity and ability to discern the need for Nigerians to have more states based on merit and particularly to give the South-East an additional state, bringing it in line with other states to six.
“But I have a strong feeling that at the end of the day, we must be recommending equality of states in the zones and then allow the zones to decide which state should be created.”
Co-chairman, Hon. Mohammed Kumalia, however submitted that demands for creation of states from other zones would be treated according to merit.
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