Politics
Sovereign National Conference And Nigeria’s Polity
If they want to initiate moves to breakup the country, fine, if they want to secede and form their own Oduduwa Republic or the MOSSOB people want to re-enact the Biafran tragedy, they are welcome to it. But they should know that it is not going to be their own decision only; it is going to be the decision of all Nigerians.”
These were the words of social critic and second Republic parliamentarian, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, who, by his closeness to the corridors of power in Nigeria in a long while, and attachment to governance can unarguably be regarded as an elder-statesman. He spoke at a recent meeting he convened on the nagging issue of Sovereign National Conference (SNC).
Put subtly, Mohammed expressed the opinion that those who clamour for a SNC are doing so out of their selfish interest, either to favour themselves, or the group they represent as against the idea that it is in the interest of the country at large.
In an interview in “The Sun” of March 4, 2012, Mohammed hinted that having an SNC is not a wrong idea but that all key stakeholders in the Nigerian State must be given an opportunity to be represented, if for nothing, to avoid a reoccurrence of the 1967 to 1970 Nigerian Civil War.
According to Mohammed, “Where an issue has become a national issue, rightly or wrongly, whether the issue has been properly defined at all, and we are at the risk of being dragged or pushed to slip into another Civil War, without knowing it, I think anybody of conscience, especially those of us who are young men, we have a responsibility to say, ‘look, yes here I am, if this is a valid and meaningful discussion, I will participate.’
Consequently, he said “let us go ahead to have the conference, but I want to warn every Nigerian that what they call Sovereign National Conference is nothing but a complete transfer of power from the current leaders of the executive branch, from the legislative and even certain judicial powers to the SNC, which will be sovereign, it will be the ultimate authority in the land.”
Part of Mohammed’s grievance over the call for a SNC stems from his belief that proponents of the conference consulted Balarabe Musa, who allegedly spoke as a representative of the Northern Nigeria.
“That, to me, showed the level of duplicity and audacity of this people and those behind the calls for the SNC. If you want people to be represented, you look for their genuine representatives, the genuine people who speak for them.
“Whether what they say is pleasant or not, you know that they are speaking for some people. If you speak to a rather nobody like Balarabe Musa, then he will speak for nobody. Then when it suits you, you say that Balarabe Musa is representing the North, and when it does not suit you, you say the North does not like SNC.”
On record, proponents of the call for an SNC express the belief that the National Assembly, made up of the Senate and House of Representatives, as constituted, will be incapable to come up with a truly representative Nigerian constitution which would comprehensively address the anomalies in the Nigerian State, hence the call for an SNC, which they believe, will be more representative of all facets of the Nigerian populace.
They say from decisions that would be reached at the proposed conference, an improved federal constitution will be drafted from the 1999 edition.
However, renowned legal luminary, Chief Ricahrd Akinjide, thought otherwise; according to him, “people think as long as you change the constitution, things will change. I don’t accept that, I think that is nonsense.
“The fault is not in the constitution, it is in the people.” He gave credence to the Chinese constitution, saying as small as it is, it takes care of a far higher population than Nigeria.
“Go and look at the Chinese constitution, it is a very small document, and is being used to govern 1.4 billion people so, even if you summon another conference and write a new constitution, can you tell me it is going to work?”
The major problem, Akinjide said, is that “Nigeria is just a country, not a nation.”
This, he explained, is because “you have people shouting they want Yoruba President, they want Igbo President, and they want Northern President. Why don’t we say we want a Nigerian President?
“No matter from which part of the country he or she comes from, until we see ourselves as brothers and sisters, this nation cannot move forward.
“The problem we have is that when somebody from another section is the President, another person is agitating and wanting the President to come from their area as if the other President is not elected by the people of the country,” he said.
This, to a large extent, adds credence to the activities of the Boko Haram sect with base in the North, which has produced the greatest number of the country’s leadership from independence in 1960. Boko Haram’s initial grudge was against Western education including its development paradigm, which they claim was inimical to their existence and why they would prefer a Sharia country.
Currently, they claim their actions are necessitated by apparent poverty in the North, warranted by unjust revenue allocation, as alleged recently by Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, with full backing by northern governors as clearly enunciated by Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State. He said his state got between N2.4bn and N4.5bn monthly allocation, while some others got 20 times the amount.
Therefore, “it will not serve any useful purpose if some parts are not doing well while others are doing exceptionally well,” hence “the pressure from Boko Haram will continue until we are able to find a solution.”
The question, therefore, is how will this solution, or whatever solution for that matter, come if there is no opportunity for dialogue by the Nigerian populace which constitute the sovereignty of the country?
Meanwhile, the Senate says any quest for a change in the political configuration of the country must be pursued through members of the National Assembly because it must follow stipulations of the constitution, particularly Section 9, which prescribed how the constitution may be amended.
However, The sun, as quoted earlier, disagrees with this stand in its editorial, saying “We disagree with the position of the Senate that Nigerians can only dialogue on the way forward and the best political configuration for the country through the politicians in the National Assembly.
“This preposterous idea stands on its head. Sovereignty without any equivocation belongs to the people, and not the politicians in the National Assembly. Election of politicians as representatives of the people in the National Assembly does not in any way limit Nigerians’ right to self-expression and self-determination. Legislators should be subject to the wishes of the Nigerian people, and not the other way round. Any view contrary to this is an affront on democracy.”
Senator Pius Akpor Ewherido, representing Delta Central Senatorial District seems to have this in mind when he said in The Nation of Thursday, March 15, that “the democratic institutions that you see are not as free as you look at them. So you cannot just come up and say it should be as it is in the constitution.
“The provisions in the constitution are being flouted daily and nothing is happening.”
There could not have been a better picture than the fore-going that the issue about the SNC is not whether it should hold, but how best it can be held in such a way that decisions will truly represent all facets of the Nigerian state, without prejudice to any personal interest seem to be the crux of the matter, and on which concentration should be focused for a better Nigeria.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has insisted on the conclusion of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise yesterday (Sunday) despite calls by some opposition political parties and civil society organisations for an extension over concerns that millions of citizens could be excluded from the 2027 general elections.
In a notice issued on its X (formerly Twitter) handle on Saturday, the commission reminded the public that the exercise would end on Sunday, July 26, with designated registration centres open from 9am to 3pm.
“Your future won’t wait. Neither should you. The Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise ends Sunday, 26 July 2026,” the Commission stated.
INEC also reminded prospective voters that they could complete the registration process online through its dedicated CVR portal or visit designated INEC offices and registration centres nationwide for physical assistance.
The new Electoral Act stipulates that INEC is required to stop voter registration, updating and revision of the voters’ register 90 days before an election to allow for data clean-up, the printing of Permanent Voter Cards and other logistical preparations.
The law also requires the Commission to display the voters’ register for claims and objections within the stipulated period to enable eligible Nigerians to challenge omissions and errors and help ensure the credibility of the final register for the polls.
The INEC National Commissioner on Information and Voter Education, Mr Mohammed Haruna, told The Tide source that the Commission would not extend the deadline, stressing that the registration exercise had to close to allow the electoral body to begin cleaning the data already collected.
“By midnight on Sunday, voter registration ends. There won’t be any extension. There are so many things that we need to do at the back end. We have to draw a line; otherwise, we won’t be able to produce a clean copy of what has been posted,” he said.
Mr Haruna explained that the commission’s Information Technology team and the Voter Registration Department would begin processing the data immediately after the closure of the registration window.
He said INEC would deploy its Automated Biometric Identification System to detect and remove multiple registrations before the provisional voters’ register is displayed for public scrutiny.
“We have this automatic biometric system that will check whether somebody has registered more than once. They will publish the register for claims and objections. That is, if anybody thinks a name shouldn’t be on the register, or if he has some claims, for instance, that his name has been omitted or some of his details are incorrect,” he said.
According to him, the final number of newly registered voters would only be known after the biometric verification and the claims and objections process.
“So, it’s after all that has been done that we will have a final figure, which we will now add to the existing 93 million or so. That will then become the voters’ register. We are mandated to give every political party a copy ahead of the election,” Mr Haruna added.
Responding to concerns over the number of Nigerians who may be excluded from the 2027 electoral process by the closure, the national commissioner said INEC could only account for eligible citizens who presented themselves for registration.
He added that the commission had recorded registrations through its online platform, physical registration centres and INEC offices across the 774 local government areas.
According to a public announcement signed by Mr Ariyo Rufus, Head of Department, Voter Education, Publicity, Gender and Inclusivity on behalf of Mr Oluwatoyin Babalola, the INEC Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), the said exercise is aimed at assessing its operational readiness and testing the efficiency of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) ahead of the governorship poll.
INEC stated that the exercise would simulate Election Day accreditation procedures but clarified that no voting would take place during the exercise.
The commission explained that “the mock accreditation would be conducted in selected polling units spread across the three senatorial districts of Osun State, covering Osun Central, Osun East and Osun West.
“In Osun Central Senatorial District, the selected local government areas are Osogbo, Olorunda, Ifelodun and Boripe, with designated polling units identified for the exercise.
“For Osun East Senatorial District, the exercise will take place in selected polling units across Ilesa West, Ilesa East, Oriade and Obokun local government areas.”
INEC also listed Egbedore, Ede North, Ede South and Ejigbo local government areas as the selected councils for the mock accreditation exercise in Osun West Senatorial District.
The commission urged all registered voters whose polling units were selected to participate in the exercise, stressing that only holders of valid Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) would be accredited.
“This exercise is designed to test the functionality and efficiency of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) under conditions similar to Election Day. There shall be no voting during the exercise,” the Commission stated.
INEC reaffirmed its appreciation to residents of Osun State for their continued cooperation and support throughout the electoral process.
INEC also assured political parties, the media, civil society organisations and other stakeholders of the Commission’s commitment to conducting a free, fair, credible, transparent and inclusive governorship election in Osun State.
Mr Dare made the remark while criticizing Alhaji Abubakar for hiring a United States of America lobbyist with $1.2 million, in preparation for the 2027 elections.
In a statement he personally signed, Mr Dare said the former vice president can’t take Nigeria down the path of self-destruction.
The statement read in part: “Worse still, for a man who presumes to offer leadership to Africa’s most populous nation, his recent resort to grievance offshoring, outsourcing political warfare to Washington and reportedly paying $1.2 million to an American lobbying firm to peddle petitions against a sitting Nigerian President, stands as an affront to Nigeria’s sovereignty and a vote of no confidence in its democratic institutions.
“It is also a stinging slight, an implicit condescension directed at generations of Nigerian journalists, policy analysts, academics, and public intellectuals who have spent decades analysing, critiquing, and carrying the burden of the nation’s democratic evolution.
“The Atiku Abubakar of today cuts a pitiable figure, a grotesque portrait of what a politician becomes when ambition overwhelms judgment and every political faculty becomes programmed for self-destruction.
“No, Atiku cannot take Nigeria down that path with him. He must travel it alone. But first, Nigerians deserve Atiku Abubakar’s report card. Charity, they say, begins at home, not in Washington.
“Nigerians deserve to know whether the Atiku Abubakar who has long presented himself as a democrat is, in reality, a politician of many colours. He has erected for himself a throne built simultaneously on sand and bayonets. It is time to explode the bayonets.”