The Northern Elders Forum has
expressed its support for the
national conference proposed
by President Goodluck Jonathan,
stating that the country was in
need of such a dialogue.
The spokesman of the forum,
Dr. Paul Unongo, in a telephone
interview with SUNDAY PUNCH,
said northern elders had
decided to support Jonathan’s
proposal for a national
conference and would
participate if they are invited.
He said, “As an organisation, the
Northern Elders Forum supports
fully the President’s position on
dialogue; whether it is the
national conference, or the one
that some other people are
calling for, which is the
sovereign national conference.
“We fully support the
President’s resolution that
Nigerians need to talk to one
another. Any forum provided
for us to talk about our country,
we will be part of it. We will
attend if we are invited.”
Unongo, who participated in
previous national conferences,
said his personal reservation
about the proposed conference
was that it could turn out to be
a smokescreen.
He said, “I’m just hoping and
praying that this will not be just
a talk shop, where people will
go and waste their time. I
remember my experience at the
national political forum, which
the then President Olusegun
Obasanjo provided for
Nigerians to talk. Some of us
took it very seriously and we
did tremendous amount of
work and we made copious
suggestions. Obasanjo did not
implement most of the
fundamental recommendations
pertaining to strategising to get
Nigeria in better shape. We
were disappointed.
“When the third term issue
came, we saw that he brought
about that forum for the
purpose of ensuring that his
third term agenda was realised.
We were very annoyed and he
was annoyed and he threw us
away unceremoniously. Some of
us said if there was any other
thing like this in Nigeria, we will
be sceptical about being a part
of it.”
He said the conference would
be Jonathan’s greatest
achievement as President, if
convened transparently,
allowing Nigerians are allowed
to talk freely.
Unongo disagreed with the
position of the former governor
of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu,
who had argued that the
conference would be a
distraction.
“I don’t share Tinubu’s opinion
that Jonathan wants to divert
attention from serious issues of
governance facing him. I think it
is a good move. Nigerians
desperately need to sit across
the table and talk to one
another,” he said.
On the issues to be discussed,
Unongo, who was the Second
Republic Minister for Steel
Development, said everything
could be discussed except
disintegration of the country.
“We have recreated Nigeria
from what it was in the days of
the Obafemi Awolowo, when he
described Nigeria as a mere
geographical expression.
Nigeria is now a nation state
bought with volumes of our
blood.
“If anybody thinks that we will
go through a civil war; kill two
million men; and mere 43 years
after we will forget the
slaughter and all the sufferings
this country went through, that
person must be joking.”

There is still hope for 9ja division...