President Jonathan
Diana Okon-Effiong, calabar
The decision by President Goodluck Jonathan to send the outcome of the National Conference for the National Assembly’s ratification has been described as appropriate by some analysts in Cross River State.
The analysts gave their opinion in separate interviews with our correspondent in Calabar. According to them the president’s position was also constitutional because it was not a sovereign national confab.
Jonathan had promised to forward the outcome of the national conference to the National Assembly so that it would form an integral part of the ongoing Constitution amendment.
But other Nigerians have questioned the decision and the role of NASS in the matter, stating that the report should rather be submitted for a referendum.
However, Mr Utum Eteng, a private legal practitioner and public affairs analyst told our correspondent that the decision by Jonathan “is a proper step that will not violate the constitution”.
“I think some people deliberately misunderstood what the president said. He said he was going to set up a National Conference. A national conference is different from a National Sovereign Conference; a national conference in an existing sovereign; there cannot be two sovereigns in one nation. You cannot refer the findings of a national conference to the people again because by the 2011 General Elections the people have relinquished their rights, responsibilities in matters of this nature to the people they elected.”
“It is an aspect of law-making; for now it is only the national assembly that can fine-tune whatever is got from the discourse on national conference because it is a NASS of an existing sovereign nation. So it is proper and so for you to think that you are going to conduct a plebiscite is to create a new constitution. We should thank the president for creating an opportunity for people to ventilate their views in a democracy. I think he is very much in order and I commend him for this”, Eteng said
In another interview, Chief Francis Bullem, a businessman and Public Affairs Analyst also agreed with Eteng’s position on the matter.
“Yes the president is absolutely right to subject the decision of the committee on national conference to the highest law making body in Nigeria. He also said that his decision to set up a committee that would work out the framework for a national dialogue was specifically because of his desire to provide a platform for Nigerians to engage in discussions that would have direction. The National Assembly is constituted by law and it is existing currently; so you cannot usurp its functions through a plebiscite because the conference is not sovereign in nature. The issues involved are those of constitutionality and legality. So the president has done the proper thing”, Bullem said.
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