Elder statesman,
Chief Ayo Adebanjo ,
was a delegate to
the recently-held National Conference . In
this interview with Senior Correspondent ,
TEMIDAYO AKINSUYI, he speaks on the
success of the conference, issues
surrounding implementation and other
sundry issues. Excerpts :

So many Nigerians had a lot of doubt when
President Goodluck Jonathan inaugurated
the National Conference . Now that it has
come and gone, can you really say it was a
success ?

A lot of people had a lot of misconceptions
about the conference . They did not wish the
conference well . They were not thinking
about the solid interest of the country . On
the part of the All Progressive Congress
(APC ), they did not want Jonathan to take
the glory of convoking the National
Conference. If you remember , the National
Conference is part of the manifesto of APC .
And yet , when the president announced it,
they rejected it . Can you see the
contradictions ? Having started it now, they
want to debunk it as if it is something not
genuine . They called it a diversion.
Until the beginning of work of the
Okurounmu committee, they never believed
that the man was serious. He inaugurated
the conference ; again , they protested ,
saying those selected are not the true
representatives of the people . What is
important in this country , and up till now , is
that we haven ’ t got genuine political leaders
or patriots , who genuinely love this country .
All they want is to make politics out of
every issue , just like they are doing with
Boko Haram .
Everybody agreed that the constitution we
are operating is awkward . It is not a federal
constitution as it says. It was not made by
the people , as they claim in the Preamble .
All of us have been saying that . We now
agreed that we want the People ’ s
Constitution. A constitution made by the
people , that is truly federal in character and
in operation , not in theory . Now, we went to
the conference and looked at this issue one
by one.
What surprised these critics was that the
conference did not end in confusion . They
were expecting all sorts of negative things,
but God disgraced them . Having done that
now , the pattern of criticism now is not that
the conference is not a success , not that we
didn’ t achieve the set goals . They are now
saying that it won ’ t be implemented .

Those who said the president may not
implement the recommendations of the
conference, don’ t you think they have
their reasons for nursing this belief ?

If you said the president will not convene
the conference , and he did, it shows he is a
listening president . Why don’ t you continue
the pressure and ensure these
recommendations are implemented ? They
said that he will not implement the
recommendations and now he has set up
an implementation committee . Yet, they are
still reading meaning into his actions . Let
us learn to give credit to whom it is due. I
am not saying that Jonathan is perfect ,
neither am I saying that there is nothing
wrong in his government. There are lots of
things I can criticise about his
administration . But , I believe the
convocation of National Conference and with
the faith that he is going to implement it,
surpasses all other things that he could
have done.
Because of the conference , now we can live
together in lasting peace. All other things
we are talking about will only come when
the country exists. He has given us a
constitution that will make the country exist
and that is where I stand. Let us a find a
way to make Nigeria exist among the
various stakeholders .
Having done that now, then we can move to
the issue of ‘ who will rule the country ?’
That is why I said let us implement this
constitution , put it in operation before the
next election. And let the constitution come
into operation after the expiration of this
tenure on May 30 , 2015 .
Let us start on a clean slate. Why have we
got what we wanted and keep it in the
cupboard and still use the old constitution
that we have been complaining about for
another four years ? How does putting the
new constitution in use disturb the
election ? What matters is that anyone who
wins the election , there is a constitution to
operate, which is the one arrived at the
conference .
The question of the implementations of the
recommendations of the confab is political,
it is not legal .
dailyindependentnig.com/2014/10/apc-wanted-take-glory-national-conference-adebanjo/

politicians and politics.you all are busy playing politcs,looting money ,while the poor masses are dying .

This same National Conference that has created over 100,000 jobs within 3 months & boosted Nigeria's electricity power generation to over 100,000 Megawatts.
Not forgetting that the conference had finally STOPPED these thieves in politics to rethink!
Wow....so much for this conference....

:

The janjaweeeeeds have been thouroughly shamed.
That the conference turned out very successful have shut their mouth up. They are not talking again.

Why would Chief Adebanjo not support GEJ failures like other beneficiaries, the old man was able to bank over 16million unexpectedly and been part of a conference as conferred by the federal government and not the people's conference.

What the APC is agitating for is a Sovereign National Conference and not as in-vogue by GEJ administration. If the CONFAB was not another political gimmicks from GEJ why would it take another 4 years for the recommendations to be implemented? why should we keep the solution to our problems for another day if we are sincere with the claim to have the solution? Is he deliberately putting this nation through the rigors of national insecurity, high level of corruption, perverse hunger and looting the treasury through so many means just for self satisfaction?

Adebanjo should be reminded that we are in new era. The era that things are done differently and the need for GEJ administration to be swift not on looting and stealing only but also on issues that bothers on national interest if not the revolution that so many people not foreseeing will be a shock when it will start.

Abeg, someone should explain the glory that was in the national conference

Apc..should take all d glory..killin shecow,ebola matter,national confrence,e.t.c.no wahala dm try.
Oya make dm go carry cup.
so wht doea it profit apcto claim everything good.buh still rejected by d masses yl jona win 2015.including som present apc states...
my stake..apc should tell us wht d will do for nigeria..and how d intend doin that.visible approach.
till then..apc is just another...