Subject National Confab To Referendum – Eze Robinson

Less than one month to
the commencement of the national conference, many Nigerians are expressing worry over the workability of the proposed conference.
The Eze Ekpeye Logbo of Ekpeye Land, Eze Robinson O. Robinson, says the forthcoming national conference will only be meaningful if the outcome of the exercise is subjected to a referendum.
Eze Robinson, who stated this in a chat with Aviation correspondents at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, said Nigerians should not be afraid of a referendum as it conforms with international practice.
The Ekpeye monarch criticized the composition of the national conference for failing to embrace adequately the ethnic nationalities that constitute the country.
According to him, “the Ekpeye people are different from Ogba, Ogoni, Ikwerre, Kalabari people, while in Yoruba land, the Ijebus are different from the Ijeshas, just as Hausas are different from the Fulanis etc. They should have representatives because of their peculiar interests.”
He also faulted the time duration allotted to the conference, arguing that the three-month  duration was capable of reducing the conference to a mere jamboree as it was too short to achieve any meaningful outcome.
“They are rushing the conference, it may not achieve anything good; the problem will still be there 10 to 20 years from now, people will complain. So, if we want to hold conference, we should do it well.
“I don’t know why people are afraid that we should not go for referendum; people all over the world do it on issues like this for people to decide,” he said.
He noted that majority of Nigerians still believe in the unity of the country, but said that the right thing must be done to move the country forward, because “anything worth  doing is worth doing well.”
On the recent upgrade of stools in Rivers State, the monarch said stools were created by the people throughout the country, but government only recognised stools and classified them into first, second and third class stools to give them legitimacy, adding that Governor Amaechi did just that recently.