… Warns troublemakers ahead of 2015
SAN FRANCISCO, September 17, (THEWILL) – President of the Senate, David Mark, was very unequivocal on Tuesday as he declared his full support for the convocation of a national conference where all Nigeria’s ethnic nationalities will meet to discuss critical national question.
He also warned those he called political jobbers to desist from fanning the embers of hatred and war even when the 2015 general election is still two years away.
“It is disheartening that even though the general election of 2015 is two years away, political jobbers, sycophants, and hustlers have prematurely seized the political space, and are being allowed to set the tone of national discourse,” he lamented.
Speaking on the first day of Senate resumption from its month -long vacation, Mark’s declaration was in line with that of President Goodluck Jonathan declaration penultimate week that his government was not opposed to the call for a national conference.
Mark thus joined the league of eminent Nigerians calling for a national conference of ethnic nationalities.
A conference of Nigeria’s ethnic nationalities, he said, is welcome, though he stressed that there will only be few red lines, when such conference is convened.
According to him, the chief among the red lines would be the dismemberment of the country. Beyond that, he said every other question should be open to deliberations.
“A conference of Nigeria’s ethnic nationalities, called to foster frank and open discussions of the national question, can certainly find accommodation in the extant provisions of the 1999 Constitution which guarantee freedom of expression, and of association.
“To that extent, it is welcome. Nonetheless, the idea of a National Conference is not without inherent and fundamental difficulties. Problems of its structure and composition will stretch the letters and spirit of the Constitution and severely task the ingenuity of our constitutionalists.
“Be that as it may, such a conference, if and whenever convened, should have only few red lines, chief among which would be the dismemberment of the country. Beyond that, every other question should be open to deliberations.” Mark said.
The Senate President however said caution must be exercised in doing that.
“ I hasten to add that it would be unconstitutional to clothe such a conference with constituent or sovereign powers! But the resolutions of a national conference, consisting of Nigeria’s ethnic nationalities, and called under the auspices of the Government of the Federation, will indeed carry tremendous weight. And the National Assembly, consisting of the elected representatives of the Nigerian people, though not constitutionally bound by such resolutions, will be hard put to ignore them in the continuing task of constitution review.
“But to circumvent the Constitution and its provisions on how to amend it, and repose sovereignty in an unpredictable mass will be too risky a gamble and may ultimately do great disservice to the idea of one Nigeria.
“That is not to say that a Constitutional Conference, whether sovereign or not, is a magic wand. The task of nation building requires patience, faith, scrupulous honesty, diligence, dedication, sacrifice, toil, labour, assiduous application and massive investments in our future. The heights attained by great nations were not made by sudden flights,” he warned.
Mark, who also spoke against the overheating of the polity by politicians with threats of war and rancor, warned that there is no alternative to the democratic project. He said Nigerians want united, peaceful and prosperous country.
“As you would have discovered, the vast majority of our people want a united, peaceful and prosperous Nigeria. They long for a country in which our tremendous potentials as a nation are transparently and equitably nurtured and realised; a country in which law reigns supreme, and is applied evenly and equally to all, high and low. For our constituents, there is no alternative to the democratic project. What they dread, and will never want, is a nation trammelled by impunity, brigandage, banditry, insurgency, rampant corruption, and mis-governance,” he said.
While calling on his colleagues to be careful of their actions ahead of the 2015 general elections, Mark also warned the senators, and indeed other political leaders in the country, to call their supporters to order. He charged them to put Nigeria first in all their actions and words as leaders.
“Distinguished colleagues, more than ever before, our countrymen and women are looking up to us for leadership, redemption and stability. The polity is assailed by political tremors, all on account of the 2015 elections!
“Here in this chamber, we are first and foremost Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and though not impervious to the present centrifugal political pulls, we must put the interest of Nigeria above every other consideration.
“We must not only rise above narrow, parochial and partisan considerations. We must, also very eloquently by deeds and words, demonstrate the capacity and willingness to moderate national discourse and balance the polity. This, we can only do by always standing with the people and on the side of truth and by painstakingly striving at all times to do what is legally and constitutionally right and morally justifiable.
“It is disheartening that even though the general elections of 2015 are two years away, political jobbers, sycophants, and hustlers have prematurely seized the political space, and are being allowed to set the tone of national discourse.
“This is an unnecessary and avoidable distraction by characters or hirelings who are desperately in search of relevance. They are only out to feather their own nests and in the process unduly overheat the polity. They employ every weapon, including threats of war, and open saber rattling, to advance their partisan causes. I am therefore compelled to urge restraint and to call on all putative contestants to various political positions in 2015 to advise themselves and call their various supporters to order.
“My prayer is to see our democracy advance to a level where those who lose elections would stoically accept the verdict of the electorate, congratulate the winners, and forge ahead. Beating the drums of war, chanting war songs and blackmailing the nation with fire and brimstone are outdated and unacceptable tools of political brinksmanship.
“Political jobbers and war mongers do not serve anybody’s interests, but theirs. They exploit our collective fears and fan the embers of hatred, acrimony and division. But like I have said in the past, Nigeria is greater than any of its parts, and it is in our collective interest to promote her unity based on the ideals of love, peace, patriotism, faith, compromise and sacrifice. And Nigeria is certainly greater than any position any politician will ever occupy.
“I therefore strongly advise the security agencies to take any threat bordering on treason very seriously and to thoroughly investigate such and take appropriate measures irrespective of who the culprits are,” Mark stated.
Mark also said the greatest legacy Nigerian leaders can bequeath to posterity is to collectively build a Nigeria that is more functional, more united, more dynamic, more peaceful and more democratic.
“Our objective should be to build a nation whose unity is an article of faith based on equity, fairness, justice and equal opportunity; a nation where injustice to one is injustice to all. I know it is a herculean task, but it is one that can be attained by steely resolve.
“As Senators of the Federal Republic and as stabilisers of the polity, we must sound it loud and clear to all our elected and appointed officials, and indeed to every politician, that to divert attention from the core task of governance to desperate political permutations, is a great disservice to our nation,” the Senate president added.
He further stressed that national redemption requires renewed and concerted focus on governance at all levels, in every tier. According to him, concerted focus on governance entails keen and constructive engagement between all the arms of government.
Mark also argued that “To collaborate with, and engage the other arms of government in the interest of good governance, is neither to surrender our mandate as the gatekeepers to the realm of the public good, nor is it to compromise our ability to serve as a check on the other arms of government. ”
He said: “Rather, collaboration simply implies that when we as a legislature discharge our constitutional functions with faith, commitment and patriotism, we will insist that the other arms do likewise. All (these are necessary for) our critical institutions in a country very much in a hurry to develop, a country whose citizens yearn for, and deserve much more from her public officers.”
Mark added that collaboration or engagement also calls for a strict and more imaginative commitment to constitutional oversight responsibilities of the legislature. According to him; “it is only by so doing that we can help upgrade the quality of life in our country, and reward our peoples’ unflinching faith in democracy.”
BY EMMA UCHE, ABUJA
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