What are we expecting from this conference?

This conference is going to be very successful, that is one thing I want everybody to know. Everybody here has agreed that this country should remain one and I think that is the most basic thing. It needs to be looked into and brought out, that we can live in harmony and pursue the issue of development and it looks like we have all agreed on that.

*Haliru

And if you can see the friendship in the hall and outside the hall, we are all old friends. Some of us were involved in past constitution making and we have known the problem, we have seen the problem that militated against the development of this country.

So what we expect is give and take. It has to be an all inclusive conference. It has to look at the interests of all sections of this country. I remember a quote that Chief Azikiwe made to Sarduana,  Azikiwe said, eAhmadu, let us forget our differences.

The Sarduana  said eNo, let us recognise our differences.f Because it is only when we recognise our differences that we can accommodate and tolerate each other so that we can live together as fellow Nigerians looking after each other’s  interests. So that is what we expect from this conference.

We have been having different conferences, what will make this one a different conference?

This one is different in the sense that we have learnt our lessons from what happened in the past. If you remember, the 2005 conference under Obasanjo regime, it was not concluded properly.

But as you can see from the President’s address, even that conference is not in vain because he sent some bills based on the findings of that conference. But now that we have learnt that divisive issues do not take any of us anywhere, we would endeavour to make sure that all those divisive issues are dispassionately discussed and resolved so that each group whether it is religion, a state, an ethnic group its interest is taken care of.

On voting benchmark?

You know a lot of people come with prejudices and fears. Therefore everyone is thinking if we allow so and so, they will overwhelm us. But that is not the case. As we progress, you will see that we have become more relaxed with each other. We begin to see each other as friends and colleagues rather than antagonists.

And now we are at the beginning of the process. So I donft think it matters much whether it is two-third or three-quarter as long as there is goodwill and honesty of purpose, then we would look at issues that are pan Nigerian issues not as regional or partial issues. So I think we are going to come out with a decision.

People who drafted this rule of procedures must have thought very deeply before putting them forward for us to approve. I believe what they are thinking of is mainly about consensus. Let Nigerians have consensus on issues that bind us together.

So if we take three-quarter I donft see anything wrong with that. But if it is two-third as long as there is goodwill, we will go along with it.