ABUJA— Strong indications
emerged, yesterday, that
northern delegates are moving
to kill the yet-to-be adopted final
report of the Justice Idris Kutigi-
led National Conference.
The new move is part of a wider
campaign against the resolutions
of the conference and its
leadership which some northern
delegates had described as a
failure.
It was gathered that the
northern delegates met weekend
in one of the hotels in Abuja to
come up with strategies on how
to ensure that the report does
not see the light of the day.
FILE: UPROAR OVER Revenue
formula: Delegates to the
National Conference argue
during debate on revenue
sharing formula as the
conference degenerated into a
rowdy session, yesterday.
The northern delegates, who
attended the meeting, were said
to be aggressively pursuing the
agenda and enlisting the support
of members of the North-West,
North-East and North-Central
caucuses of the National
Assembly in making sure the
report, when brought to the
National Assembly for
ratification, was ‘killed’.
According to a source, the
meeting was convened by a
former Senator who represented
the Federal Capital Territory,
served in the Senator Femi
Okurounmu-led Confab
modalities committee and is now
a confab delegate on the
platform of Senators’ Forum,
Senator Kairat Gwadabe.
The meeting was said to have
lasted well into the early hours
of Saturday. The convener, the
source said, is wooing other five
delegates on the platform of
Senators’ Forum.
Members of the Senators Forum
at the confab are Senators
Nnamdi Eriobuna (South-East);
Iyabo Anisunlowo (South-West);
John Braimbaifa (Bayelsa, South-
South); Abdullahi Bala Adamu,
Mohammed Ibrahim and Khairat
Gwadabe from the North.
A source told Vanguard that the
convener is also beaming the
searchlight on other northern
senators at the conference such
as Ibrahim Ida, Saidu Dansadau,
Jubril Aminu, Saidu Komo and
Ibrahim Mantu among others to
help woo serving senators after
the adoption of the report.
The plot
According to the source, part of
the group’s plan is to use the
opportunity of the annual recess
of the National Assembly to
lobby senators and members of
the House of Representatives
from the north to ensure that the
report was scuttled as well as
use the Lesser Hajj in Mecca to
talk to some senators.
Efforts to reach Senator Khairat
Gwadabe on her mobile phone
did not yield results. Several calls
to her mobile could not connect
and text messages sent to her
mobile were not replied.
The crisis rocking the National
Conference over
recommendations on revenue
allocation, derivation and
allocation of five per cent of
federal revenue to insurgency
ravaged North-East geo-political
zone and other parts of the
north was deepened last Monday
following a very sharp division
between northern and southern
delegates.
The plenary session finally came
to a close without any
agreement on the controversial
issues.
Following the logjam, the
conference pushed the issues to
President Goodluck Jonathan,
suggesting that he should set up
a technical committee that would
advise the Federal Government
on revenue sharing formula, the
percentage of derivation to oil
producing states, mineral
resources development fund as
well as the special fund for
reconstruction and rehabilitation
of areas affected by problems of
insurgency and internal conflict.

Continue...
The leadership of the conference
allowed time for mediation by
leaders of the six geopolitical
zones, leading to an agreement
with derivation fund raised from
13 to 18 per cent; five per cent
of revenue should go for the
stabilisation, rehabilitation and
reconstruction of areas affected
by terrorism and insurgency, in
the first instance in the North-
East, North-Central, North-West
and any other parts of the
country; five per cent for the
exploration and development of
all mineral resources, etc.
The recommendation, however,
did not go down well with the
North-Central and North-West
delegates who insisted that
specific mention be made that
the five per cent insurgency
intervention fund was for the
three northern geo-political
zones while South-East and
South-West delegates asked that
it be expanded to take care of
every state of the country where
terrorism and internal conflict
had occurred.
The conference had to adjourn
to reconvene on August 4 for
final consideration of all
resolutions reached and
preparation of report.
The most contested report was
that of the Committee on
Devolution of Powers co-chaired
by Obong Victor Attah, one-time
governor of Akwa Ibom State
and Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie,
leader of Arewa Consultative
Forum (ACF) and former
Inspector General of Police.
However, the conference, in
considering report of its 20
committees, had a smooth sail on
19 reports.
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