By DAPO AKINREFON

LAGOS—PROMINENT Itsekiri leader, Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor, has described last weekend’s public hearing on the proposed constitution amendment as sham and monumental failure.

According to her, the exercise “was nothing more than a ploy to rubber stamp the selfish agenda of those who organised it.”

Addressing a press conference in Lagos, yesterday, the Igba of Warri, who maintained that the exercise was designed to fail, lamented: “How on earth do you expect people of my calibre and age to just answer ‘Yes or No’ about a matter that was not previously discussed!”

Faulting the public hearing, Ogbebor said “the first question was about difficulties in Section 8 of the constitution that makeS creation of states difficult. How many of us who are not lawyers know anything about the clause?”

She maintained that the one minute slated for every question could never be adequate to address such a document that was like the bible of the country.

Expressing disgust at the way the Warri exercise was conducted, owing to the President’s visit for Pastor Ayo Oritsjefor’s birthday, she said “the event slated for 9 a:m could not commence until 4p:m and because of the wishy-washy manner the programme was handled, people got angry and walked out on the organisers.”

While rejecting the exercise, she insisted that “what we need is not state creation but how to address the issue of the minorities in the country as stated by the Henry Willink Commission of 1958.

The Itsekiri leader was of the conviction that the injustices being meted to the minorities was the cause of emergence of restive groups like Boko Haram and other militants noting that “no stability or peace can be guaranteed in an atmosphere where injustice reigns supreme.”

Ogbebor threw her weight behind calls for a National Dialogue that could lead to regional autonomy saying that the First Republic, there were healthy competitions among the regions that led to rapid development even without oil.

She, however stated that “going back to the pre-Independece Henry Willink Commission report as well as jetitioning of the current Presidential System of government for a parliamentary system is the only forward for Nigeria” adding that  the presidential system is too expensive to operate.